JEFFERSON – Excavation work underway at the future inclusive playground and Imagination Village at the former Memorial Field in Jefferson Village was celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, Oct. 23.
The future playground is a “transformational” project for the former field, with funding for phase 1 of a multi-phase project being supported by grants from the Civic Development Corporation of Ashtabula County and the Ashtabula County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
Additionally, the Ashtabula County commissioners pledged to give $150,000 toward the splash-pad portion of the project.
More donations are being sought for the project.
The funding will support the construction of an all-inclusive playground at the Memorial Field site. The playground will feature accessible playground equipment, walking paths and a miniature play village that is accessible for all children, including children with disabilities.
Rich Washington, senior landscaping engineer for Verdantas, said the challenging part of the project has been the funding, coming up with the overall vision for the community and coordinating all the phases of the project.
“This is a multi-phase project,” said Washington.
Already completed, with just the utilities waiting to be turned on, are the accessible restrooms, he said.
Now, excavation work is underway for the parking lot and drop-off area as well as site work for the area of the planned splash pad.
Work is being conducted by Simak Trucking & Excavating Inc. of North Kingsville.
On Friday, crews were at work, moving the dirt for an area that will be home to the splash pad.
“We’re trying to get the site work done by the end of this year,” Washington said.
Among the attendees at the groundbreaking were Village officials, Civic Development Corporation Executive Director Amanda Tirotta and other CDC representatives, Ashtabula County Board of DD representatives, including Manda Jackson, director of quality and community outreach, and other people involved in the project.
“We’re happy to be the intermediary to collaborate everyone’s generosity and put everything together, to show off the community support,” Tirotta said.
She said the Village has been working hard on gathering donations, including in-kind partnerships and donations – and seeking more.
“There’s a lot of work going on here now,” Jefferson Mayor Steve Sekanina said.
Sekanina said Simak is the biggest in-kind donor so far.
“They’re pretty much just doing it at cost,” Sekanina said.
He also highlighted Harmon Electric, who is not charging for labor.
“The Village is paying for all of the materials, but they’re donating all the labor. So that’s a really big deal,” Sekanina said.
He said the Village crews also are doing work where they can to help keep costs down.
Tirotta said another part of the project is the structures for the “Imagination Village” part of the playground.
Spence Contracting is creating 10×12-feet accessible structures sponsored by community businesses and/or organizations. Doug Spence already has built seven of them, including one of Andover Bank with a drive-through. The structures are designed to look like the sponsor facilities.
They are in storage until they can be installed. The interior will be done after they are installed and the weather is right, as the material is a laminate that has to be adhered at a certain temperature, Tirotta said.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
