A proposed schematic of the installation after its been completed. Photo courtesy Fred Longacre
By JOHN BRANDI
The Village of Mamaroneck’s youngest residents can prepare to join in on the playground fun as a plan was approved to install five new pieces of jungle gym equipment in Harbor Island Park.
The Board of Trustees unanimously approved a donation of playground equipment from The Harbor Island Conservancy at its meeting on Monday, Aug. 11.
Harbor Island Park, considered by the conservancy to be the “jewel of Mamaroneck,” is the largest park in the village, 44 acres, and overlooks the Long Island Sound. Harbor Island, off Boston Post Road, features athletic events, community events and a garden area for residents. The park is tended to by The Harbor Island Conservancy, an all-volunteer group that seeks donations, in the form of money or manpower, to help maintain the grounds. The conservancy presented the trustees with a proposal to install five new pieces of playground equipment that will promote, according to conservancy president Fred Longacre, “core strength and balance” in children.
“We’ve always looked at a public-private partnership with the village,” Longacre said. “We don’t do anything without them. We have a good track record with them.”
The new installation, nearly in the middle of the park, will be an addition to the existing playground constructed in 2007 next to the multi-sport facility Sportime.
The site of the new playground is currently vacant and a few feet away from the original equipment, according to Julia Sperry, secretary of the conservancy, to give kids a chance to have their own fun away from the “big kids.”
The 2007 project cost $250,000, $35,000 of which came from the village and the rest was “funded privately,” according to Longacre.
“In 2006, [that] was about the last time we asked the board to approve equipment down there, and that was when we had that wonderful installation in 2007,” Sperry said. “We had some success with that, but some parents have said they’d like to see some more equipment for two to five year olds.”
The conservancy still needs to raise funds before any groundbreaking can take place.
Funding for this project is coming from donations and a matching grant, at no cost to the village. The project is expected to cost $20,000.
Emily Grant, from the Eugene and Emily Grant Family Foundation, a Manhattan-based nonprofit, will match the $10,000 the conservancy is aiming to raise. So far, the conservancy has raised about $5,000 through donations with Longacre calling the other $5,000 “the toughest part,” but he said the conservancy is on track to meeting its fundraising goals.
The equipment was designed to incorporate single and group play.
The Berliner O’Tannenbaum, a christmas tree-shaped design that “has a climbing component and a base that spins around,” according to Sperry, will be the centerpiece and will be used for group play in which several children can climb on it.
Surrounding the Berliner O’ Tannenbaum would be the Periwinkle, a type of see-saw used to promote partnership and “getting along with your neighbor”; the Sweet Pea, a see-saw, but for one person; the Teetering Tulip, which rocks back and forth and the Dizzy Daisy, a piece a child would sit on and it would spin.
Trustee Andres Bermudez Hallstrom, a Democrat, said he felt the two to five age group was not being served with the present installation.
“I think this is a great project and a great example of the village and volunteer groups working together to make the village better for everyone,” Bermudez Hallstrom said. “I am glad the trustees had the presence of mind to approve the donation unanimously.”
The conservancy is aiming for a late spring or early summer 2015 target to begin the installation.
CONTACT: johnb@hometwn.com