Brookdale Park Playground Reconstruction Slated for Fall

 this spring should be completely rebuilt by mid-October.

Rather than reconstruct what previously existed, borough manager Tom Metzler said 's new playground, which will have enhanced handicap accessibility, will be "an entirely different playground."

The former Brookdale Park playground was reduced to smoldering black soot and burnt plastic on April 9, after an accidental fire started by three juveniles who were playing with matches got out of control. By the time fire crews arrived and extinguished the blaze, nothing from the playground was salvageable.

The borough paid $6,000 to remove the remaining debris and have the playground's underground anchors excavated and hauled away. Mulch removal was performed in-house.

The cost to purchase the new playground equipment, expected to be about 90 percent handicap accessible, is just under $70,000. The borough has yet to receive bids on the cost to install the equipment.

Metzler said the borough's insurance carrier will seek reimbursement from the insurance carrier of the parents of the children who started the fire.

"Where they can be reimbursed they’re going to go to be reimbursed," said Metzler, who wasn't sure whether the borough would be fully reimbursed for the project and said the town would not pursue the families individually. 

In addition to more handicap accessible equipment, the borough will install an engineered wood fiber surface rather than a plastic mulch surface at the playground.

While both cost about the same and the rubber mulch lasts much longer, the borough has decided to go with wood mulch because it's easier for wheelchair-bound individuals to navigate.

"We were told by a young man who was in a wheelchair that he does not have acces to the playground because his wheelchair gets stuck in the rubber mulch," Metzler said. "So we said, let’s look at it. What good is putting in a handicap accessible playground if somebody in a wheelchair can’t use it?"

The same architect who designed the new Brookdale Park playground is in the process of designing another  whose construction is being spearheaded by .

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