PLAINFIELD — The city is envisioning a $2 million phased improve to a preferred municipal park that requires the addition of a number of new leisure facilities together with ball courts, everlasting bogs and a splashpad.
The proposed burnishing of Lions Park could be paid for with a mix of state grant and municipal funding with work going down in phased segments over a five-year interval, First Selectman Kevin Cunningham stated on Wednesday.
“We already have a lot of recreational activities in town and this would be a way to offer the community more,” he stated.
The Board of Selectmen on Monday accepted the submission of a state Small Town Economic Assistance Program, or STEAP, grant for as much as $480,000 for the primary part of the challenge with the city able to kick in $121,000 in matching funds.
Jordan Lumpkins, the city’s grant author, stated the STEAP utility was the primary the city has submitted in years.
“This is a highly competitive grant, but because we have matching funds it makes it more attractive to the state,” he stated. “It shows the town and community are willing to fund these kinds of projects and that’s something the state wants to see when they review the applications.”
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What’s included within the proposed Lions Park renovation?
The first part of labor consists of the constructing of a brand new “miracle playground” construction to exchange the prevailing 20-year-old model on the Community Avenue park. Recreation Department Director Mark Simmons stated the brand new one could be handicap accessible with varied entry ramps and comfortable surfaces to permit youngsters with bodily disabilities entry to slides and different play parts.
Phase I’d additionally add a devoted health courtroom with pull-up and dip bars, lunge steps and different work-out stations – all of which might be tied to an train telephone app with “hundreds or thousands” of coaching tips.
“This would be only the second court like this in Connecticut,” Simmons stated. “We have a lot of adults in town who already work out at home and this is something we think would be attractive to them.”
Basketball and volleyball leagues attainable
A pair of side-by-side basketball courts would substitute the prevailing single courtroom; the volleyball courtroom could be expanded and upgraded to professional-play ranges; and a everlasting lavatory will take the place of a conveyable lavatory and be constructed to deal with the addition of a shaded pavilion extension.
Simmons stated he hopes to introduce basketball and volleyball league play as soon as the refurbishments are full.
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Cunningham stated the city’s share of the challenge funding was accepted throughout the latest funds cycle and acquired federal American Rescue Act Plan cash will cowl Phase II work, together with a wheelchair path and the addition of 16 solar-powered gentle poles slated to ring the park’s strolling monitor.
“Those lights will help with safety concerns and allow people who attend evening concerts to see better,” Cunningham stated. “And in the winter, when it gets dark before the park closes, it will allow people to enjoy the place with lights on.”
When is a splashpad coming to Lions Park?
An $825,000 proposed grant-funded third part, tentatively slated for 2024-25, would introduce a water splashpad – much like one at Dayville’s Owen Bell Park – a big free-standing band stand and a complimentary coated pavilion on the southern finish of the park.
Simmons stated a latest survey asking residents what they’d prefer to see on the park overwhelmingly noticed a splashpad as a preferred selection.
Lumpkins stated he expects to listen to the destiny of the city’s utility by mid-September. If the cash is accepted, Phase I work will start within the spring and be full in time to be used by summer season 2023, Cunningham stated.
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Simmons and Cunningham famous having strong leisure choices makes Plainfield a horny prospect for residents and corporations considering transferring into city.
“It’s about quality of life,” Simmons stated.
John Penney might be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or at (860) 857-6965.