(4/21) The decision to change park hours has risen before the Parks Commission for years, and just recently resurfaced again. A representative of Glade Valley Athletic Association Lacrosse requested an exception to Heritage Farm Park hours to allow GVAA lacrosse to hold practice until 6:30. Currently, the Park closes at 5 in the off-season (November 15-March 14) and at 9 from March 15 - November 14. In previous years, GVAA has asked for changes to include closing the park at 6:30 in the off-season and changing the start date of summer hours from March 15th to March 1st.
The Parks Commission was asked by the Council to further discuss whether it was worth changing the hours or changing when the park closes permanently. Concerns over safety were the primary consideration because if hours are lengthened in the off-season, the Park would be open in the dark. "It gets dark much sooner and extending the hours further into February results in perhaps people being in the park after dark," said Commissioner Chris Ragen. He further pointed out the sparse lighting in the back of the Park, thus the concerns from Town staff and Council over the safety of kids running across roads in the dark, along with other lighting concerns.
When asked about how a later closing time might impact Town staff, Director of Public Works Joseph Birch said it would be applied to all the Town's parks, not just Heritage Farm Park, that way the staff could do all closings consecutively. He also pointed out that new signage would need to be purchased for $591 to reflect the hours changing and he asked who was responsible for paying the cost. "I’d pay for that sign and not even blink," said Member Kevin Conley, who is involved with GVAA soccer. He explained that the Club rents the high schools lighted fields at $100 an hour until the park changes to summer hours. "We rented time over at the high school because we knew we couldn't get access until the 15th," he said. "I would absolutely say soccer would be in support of making it a March 1st date if that’s a reasonable request. Not to mention, if it is to that 6:00pm time, it would help us immensely."
The Burgess and Council compromised by voting to close the park at 6:00 instead of 5:00, but to keep the March 15th start date for when summer hours start. With the Parks Commission unable to decide whether to make the changes permanent, they asked Ragen to confer with the Burgess and Town Council for their advice at the next meeting.
New playground approved for Heritage Farm Park
After being reviewed by the Burgess and Town Commissioners, the future of the playground near the small pavilion at Heritage Farm Park was sent back to the Parks Commission in April. With only two acceptable bids, (originally the Town received four bids, however, one was received past the deadline and the other was for the wrong playground) the Council asked the Commission to decide between the two companies or send it out to bid again.
The original requests for the playground were to be appropriate for 2 to 12-year-olds, with an approximate square footage of 2,500 feet. The Commission requested that the playground have two slides, a scavenger hunt, climbers, a quad see-saw, a wheelchair ramp, a unity spinner with two ADA seats, musical instruments and a farm theme. The Commission also asked for a "wood carpet playground surface," which is a type of poured-in-place surface that makes the playground more ADA compliant, but also increases the price by almost $9,000. The Council did suggest removing the farm theme to get better prices and more variety.
The two bids include the site work to prepare the area for the new equipment, the equipment itself, delivery and installation. The bids are drastically different with Playground Specialist bidding $284,215, and River Valley bidding $158,067, a difference of $126,148 between the two. The Town has used Playground Specialist before for the other [Heritage Park] playground near the frisbee golf course.
When the playground was originally removed last spring due to safety concerns, the Burgess and Commissioners approved a budget of up to $175,000 for the replacement. Town staff applied for a Project Open Space Grant and was awarded $120,000. The POS funding is on top of the already approved Town budget, which means the Town has $295,000 to spend on the playground.
Even with the large difference in the quotes, the Commission voted to accept the higher bid from Playground Specialist at $284,215. The Burgess and Town Commissioners reviewed Parks recommendation at their April meeting and, in a tie breaker vote, also approved the higher cost farm-themed playground. Assuming all of the materials are in stock, they are hopeful that it may be installed by this fall.
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