Original Article Link: http://www.morningsun.net/article/20150611/news/150619936
Progress has been made on Katherine’s Playground over the last week with the surfacing and Thursday’s installation of the archway that bears the name on the playground.
“We’ll pretty much be done as far as this portion goes. Today they’re planning on putting the shade structures on and so that should all be done hopefully by the end of today,” said Kim Vogel, director of the Pittsburg Parks and Recreation Department. “We’ll still have some plaques that we need to put in this area — one for the donors and one with Katherine’s story on it — so once that’s done, this portion will be pretty well complete.”
With the surfacing laid out and the archway installed, the new playground is nearly finished and should be open for children to play on sometime mid-next week after some final touches are made.
“It’s still a construction zone until the fencing goes down,” Vogel said. “For their safety, they should stay out of the area. I know it’s been enticing because it’s the nicest playground we have in Pittsburg and definitely now that the surfacing is down, it makes it even more enticing. But we still have equipment were moving in and out, so if everybody can just be patient, that’ll help us get the job done sooner.”
Toby Book, parks superintendent, expanded on the surfacing process, which happened in a 48-hour timeframe by Ecoturf Surfacing — based out of Kansas City, Kansas — last Tuesday, June 2 and Wednesday, June 3.
“The surfacing is actually made in two layers,” Book said. “There’s a layer of three and a half inches of shredded recycled tire rubber and it’s bond together with a polyurethane binder and then they came in the next day to put EPDM, which is brand new rubber — that’s where the (blue) color comes from — they bond it together and put a binder to the apron and the lower surface and it becomes a unitary surfacing.”
Book said the obvious advantage to the surfacing is the accessibility — especially for the disabled such as Katherine Dean who the playground is named after — it’s easier to clean up, more maintenance friendly, better drainage systems should it excessively rain and environmentally friendly.
“Probably the only drawback you have is it is a little bit hotter than a typical surface,” Book said. “People need to be aware of that if it’s 105 (degrees) out. The play surfacings are going to be hot, the playground is going to be hot, I would recommend air conditioning right then.”
The archway, which came at just under $3,000 is metal, powder-coated black, and was built by D & M Iron Works based out of Neosho, Mo.
Book said the finishing touches will include dirt work, sod the area to have instant green space and another sidewalk approaching from the west similar to the sidewalk approaching the east.
“This will be a pretty nice completion of phase one,” Book said.
Vogel said the playground will have more phases to it, such as a butterfly garden and shelter houses when funding allows those to be built, but she said by sometime mid-next week the playground will be ready to be played on.
The grand opening will be Friday, July 3, with the donors of the playground present to honor what they helped the parks and recreation department achieved.