A community playground will be coming to the Guide Meridian/Cordata Neighborhood as the members of Birchwood Presbyterian Church put the final touches on fundraising for the project.
Jen Zimmerman, the children’s ministry director at the church and one of the leaders of the playground project, said there are many children in the Guide Meridian/Cordata neighborhood, yet the area lacks public playgrounds.
The playground, which will be located in the corner of the church’s parking lot at 400 Meadowbrook Court, is scheduled to begin construction at the start of June and is estimated to be finished by the end of August, Zimmerman said.
Rev. Bruce Becker said the development of the playground will benefit both the church community and the neighborhood.
“There are no playgrounds,” Becker said. “Although the city is planning a park, the playground there will not get done until around 2017, so children who now live in the area will be in high school before it is completed. That doesn’t meet the current need at all.”
Those who would use the playground include children in the preschool and kindergarten programs, mothers of preschoolers (MOPS), a group of moms with young children who meet at the church, children in Sunday School and also the parents and children of the neighborhood.
“We hope the kids from the housing developments come down,” Zimmerman said. “It is our goal that it will be used by the community.”
Hafdis Smithson, a member of MOPS and mother of two young children, Shelby and Leyton, said the playground will offer preschoolers and kindergarteners a more exciting place to play outside and hopefully interact with other children from the neighborhood.
“Right now the children play in a small courtyard with only concrete and no climbing toys or play in the gym with hula hoops, balls and bikes,” Smithson said. “[The playground] is absolutely going to improve their experience.”
The Cost of Construction
Zimmerman said the playground comes with an estimated price tag of about $95,000, of which there is about $7,000 left to raise.
“I think a lot of the people at the church were a little shell shocked at the price,” Zimmerman said.
The church originally estimated the cost of building the playground at around $30,000, but after meeting with representatives from an equipment supplier and a landscape architect company they realized it would be much higher.
Zimmerman said the church plans to keep fundraising, and it has also appealed to the North Puget Sound Presbytery seeking a grant to cover the remaining costs.
Earlier in the year the church received an anonymous donation of $50,000 which helped put the project back on track after it stalled due to lack of money, Becker said.
Details of the Playground
Becker said the playground will be about 2,800 square feet and will require concrete from the parking lot to be torn up, but that is easier than trying to build on the original site, which contains wetlands.
Zimmerman said the playground equipment alone costs about $42,000 for large play structures with slides and multiple climbing features, plus smaller free-standing toys.
The playground will include two different design structures for different age groups, Zimmerman said. One design will be aimed toward children between 3 and 5 years old, with lower equipment and easier climbing routes, while the other structure will be higher off the ground and have a more challenging climbing route for older children.
“It was always our belief that if we are going to do this, we are going to do it big and right the first time,” Zimmerman said. “We are not going to put in something that will need to be replaced in a couple years. We want it to last forever.”
Zimmerman said the equipment will be manufactured by SiteLines, a company that has done other playgrounds around Bellingham, such as at Carl Cozier Elementary School.
According to a draft of the playground site put together by SiteLines, the playground will be built with wheelchair accessibility.
Becker said the playground will also be fenced and have good visibility and benches so parents can sit and supervise their children.
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