Super Park’s legacy: Rec Department seeks funding to make all parks accessible
Back in June, Town Meeting’s support for the proposed Grafton Community Park, aka Super Park, was overwhelmingly against.
Residents stepped to the mic repeatedly to criticize the excessive cost of creating a new park with an accessible playground behind the Grafton Public Library addition.
They did like the idea of a playground accessible to children of all abilities — but wondered why the town wasn’t fixing up its existing parks.
Grafton Recreation is bringing a request to do just that before Town Meeting on Saturday but Tuesday night, Director Jen Andersen appeared before Select Board to sign the $154,436.52 contract with Design Built, LLC.
It wasn’t that she was jumping the gun. Town Meeting was originally supposed to be last week, before COVID-19 once again moved the legislative event of the season to Halloween, outdoors on the Grafton High School football field. Should the request for CPC funding for the park improvements pass, the board has already given it the stamp of approval.
Article 8 on the warrant calls for the appropriation of $210,000 from Community Preservation Act funds to install ADA accessible routes and surfacing at Perry Hill Park, Airport Park, Norcross Park, Riverview Park, Ferry Street Park, and Silver Lake Beach.
Missing from the list: Nelson Park, which alongside the Nelson Library is run through a trust.
“I did not attempt to put that under our umbrella,” Andersen acknowledged.
Select Board Chair Peter Carlson said the board would be willing to assist the Nelson trustees if they wanted to seek out CPC funds to make their playground accessible as well.
Select Board member Doreen DeFazio acknowledged that she was a vocal supporter of the Super Park, but the move showed that the town was listening.
