Ship Ahoy!
Fun Ideas for Flint Park Presented at Village Board

by Judy Silberstein

(June 3, 2003) A ship-shaped playground for toddlers, a separate and "cool, big kid" area, spring toys and arch swings. Chris Verni and Brigid Brennan from the Villlage-Conservancy Flint Park Playground Committee shared these and other options for the park with the Village Board on Monday, June 2.

Now is considered an optimal time for planning – with the current Flint Park playground equipment nearing the end of its use life, and with large parts of the play area already disrupted by an ongoing construction project. The group that has assumed responsibility for coming up with new plans for the playground in Flint Park is a partnership between public and private organizations and individuals. The group is functioning independently of the project to expand the ball fields and improve accessibility to the waterfront at the back of the park.

For the past fourteen months members of the Village Board, Recreation Committee, and Parks and Trees Committee have met with representatives from the Flint Park Conservancy and other interested individuals to map out the playground space, and to consider issues of safety, handicap accessibility, age-appropriateness, pricing – and fun.

Verni noted, the group has met two-dozen times, perused 100 different catalogs for playground equipment, and surveyed 1,000 different playground elements. The members agree that whatever else they decide on, the plan should fit in with the rest of the park – both thematically and esthetically. That’s why they’re leaning towards a nautical theme for the toddlers, and blues, greens and neutral colors for the entire enterprise. Currently they are focusing on designs prepared by two different companies, Designed for Fun, Inc and Environmental Design, but they are still open to new ideas and to new members for their group.

“It’s not too late to get involved,” both Verni and Brennan stressed.

Their goal is to return to the Village Board in the Fall with specific recommendations and presentation boards that can be shared with the public to elicit feedback.

Once they get the go-ahead on the designs, there will be the matter of money. They expect costs to be in the range of $120-150 thousand. While this is high, the group estimated that even the simplest, least exciting replacement would cost around $75 thousand. Since the planners will also take responsibility for the fund-raising, they will be looking to the Board for guidance on both aspects of the project.

The firm of Designed for Fun, Inc. submitted one playground scheme for children up to age 12. Alternate plans came from the Environmental Design firm.