Chapel Hill looks to update playgrounds

Nine parks in Chapel Hill are being targeted for major upgrades by the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department.

“We have the goal to replace all of our sand and wood fiber fall surfaces with rubberized mulch,” said Bill Webster, planning and development manager for the department.

“People prefer it. It’s certainly more handicap accessible, but it’s an expensive project that is a much better one, and it really allows us to not have to do as much maintenance.”

Webster said that after looking at the parks’ playgrounds, the department realized that some of the parks have other needs as well, such as proper stormwater drainage and the provision of handicapped parking and access in one of the smaller parks.

“Typically our biggest concern is safety,” Webster said. “In this case the main issue isn’t really safety but long-term maintenance, user satisfaction and handicap accessibility.”

The department will now be choosing a firm or vendor to complete the park renovations.

Webster, who also handles all the capital projects for Chapel Hill, said the vendors are essential to the project because they might specialize in fields such as landscape architecture.

“We feel confident that what we’re going to get in the end is what we expect,” he said.

“We’re also asking each of the vendors to do a quick assessment and let us know if they see something that we didn’t and if we need to add to it.”

April 14 is the deadline for vendors to submit their improvement proposals, and April 6 is the final day to submit questions to the department.

Webster said the department hopes to select a firm for the project by April 21.

At Homestead Park, one of the nine parks targeted by the initiative, some residents expressed a need for other improvements besides the playground areas.

“The park is great because so many of the people here are students, and they don’t have their own backyard,” said Allison Ditmore, a Chapel Hill resident.

“However, it’s hard to enforce the small dog-big dog thing with the two separate dog parks.”

Chapel Hill resident Holly Culton said she thought the parks could be maintained better.

“The best part about this park is the amount of trees and walking spaces,” she said. “But sometimes here there’s quite a bit of litter.”

Chapel Hill has many parks available for public use, which isn’t always the case in some towns, Chapel Hill resident Bridget Farrell said.

“I don’t think much needs to be improved, except for maybe field drainage,” she said.

The timeline dictates that the contract process be completed and work be started on May 11.

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