‘Super Park’ fails at Town Meeting

Despite impassioned endorsements from supporters, funding for the proposed Grafton Community Park was shot down at Saturday, with Town Meeting voting against awarding CPC funding to the much-delayed project and for transferring already granted funds back to the town.

“It’s no longer the park that you guys voted for in 2015,” said Colleen Roy, whose citizens petition sought the transfer of $241,000 given to the project from the town overlay account that year. “It’s a completely different project.”

Back in 2010, the original Super Park, a wood and pipe structure created by volunteers, was torn down to make way for the current Grafton High School. Former Selectman George Prunier spearheaded a campaign to not just build a replacement park — he advocated for the creation of a centralized, accessible park that would allow children with disabilities to play alongside their peers. That project, originally proposed for town-owned land at 25 Worcester St,, came in at a cost of $500,000, but a change of site and the eventual disbandment of the Super Park Committee left planning at a standstill.

The Grafton Recreation Department took the project back up again at the urging of Select Board Chairperson Jennifer Thomas. Slated for development alongside the expanding Grafton Public Library, the new incarnation came in at double the price for the first phase (playground, parking, bathrooms). Phases 2 and 3, with additional costs, added in a dog park, splash pad, accessible trails and other features.

“This is owed to the children of Grafton,” said John Stephens, CPC chairman. “This was promised to them 10 years ago. An entire generation has gone without it.”

Joanne Padgett was also thinking in terms of generations. She recalled hours spent at the Super Park and the smaller neighborhood parks in town with her daughter and spoke wistfully of her desire to bring grandchildren to the new park.

“My daughter, along with that entire generation, was devastated when that park for demolished,” she said.

Others were not as enthusiastic. Some were concerned that CPC funds would be tied up too long in this project rather than affordable housing or open space. A father of six children thought people were remembering the initial park through rose-colored glasses.

“At the end of its days, it was not usable,” he said.

Jennifer Vacca, who has a child with disabilities, said the park sounded like a good idea but “inclusivity is not a swing, it is not a slide, it is not a paved area.” As a parent, she said she would prefer that her child be allowed to make friends in her neighborhood parks, which should be made accessible, rather than be limited to a single park.

Roy’s article passed, taking away existing funds for the park and depositing them in the Municipal Stabilization Fund. The remaining two items, $250,000 from CPC funds and $700,000 to be bonded by the town for Phase 1, were both defeated.

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