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Vol. LXI, No. 22
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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Vol. LXI, No. 22
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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Potts Playground, a pocket park at the corner of Erdman Avenue and Tee-Ar Place in Princeton Borough, will undergo a revitalization effort this summer, thanks to a county grant that will go toward financing the project and funding other parks projects in the region.
Borough Council heard testimony last Tuesday from the joint-municipal Princeton Recreation Department, the agency seeing the project through, and offered an endorsement of the park as plans were presented that would include new back boards and rims for the basketball court, three new picnic tables, three new benches, two additional pieces of playground equipment, four new swings with two belt seats and two toddler seats, and a relocated whirl toy.
"We wanted to assist in this project," said Recreation Department Executive Director Jack Roberts last week, adding that while various changes would be made to improve the equipment, the layout would largely remain the same.
The $261,000 Mercer-at-Play grant that was issued to the Borough and Township last year will finance the estimated $60,000 price tag. That grant will also be used to help offset costs related to the $250,000 planned skate park in Princeton Township's Hilltop Park.
Mr. Roberts pointed to the aged playground equipment that was recently replaced in Hilltop Park, saying that new equipment would comply with current safety standards and ensure that the Borough would not have to address aged equipment for years to come. Borough administrator Robert Bruschi agreed, calling the project a "no-brainer.
"Here we have a heavily used park in a high-residential neighborhood: this equipment will be there for a long time," he said.
The new playground equipment will cost an estimated $30,000, with the removal of the current equipment and installation of new equipment costing about $25,000. Roughly $3,400 will be used to place 5,320 square feet of wood fiber safety surfacing, and repaving the basketball court will cost $4,400, according to Recreation Department estimates.
Borough Councilman Andrew Koontz, who heads up the not-for-profit Princeton Parks Alliance, praised the project, calling for increased funding for similar initiatives. "I'm glad to see us moving in this direction, and we need to keep our eyes open for these types of grants so we can address these issues when projects are ready to go."