The playground at Posse Grounds Park reopened on Tuesday, Oct. 18, after having been closed since May 31 for reconstruction. The new playground offers kids slides, swings, climbing boards, a catwalk, rope ladders and a cyclone spinner, as well as a resurfaced play area.
“We are over the moon to have this new playground at Posse Grounds Park,” Sedona Parks & Recreation Manager Dawn Norman said. “It was well overdue.”
“The new Americans with Disabilities Act playground design will be inclusive by nature, inviting children of all abilities to play together,” the Sedona Public Works Department announced in a press release. “The rubberized playground surface will be ADA accessible so as not to eliminate anyone [adult or child] from being able to use the park.”
Improvements were first considered in the city’s 2012 Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which called for shade structures to be installed on all playgrounds within one to three years.
The city’s Fiscal Year 2017-18 budget estimated that the reconstruction would be completed sometime in 2021 at a cost of $563,460. According to the FY2019-20 budget, construction was to have begun on July 1, 2020, and finished by June 30, 2021. At the time, the estimated cost was $466,740.
The city’s FY22 Capital Improvements Plan projected that construction would be completed by fall 2022, with a project budget of $440,000. The final cost as confirmed by Sandra Phillips of Public Works was $518,227. And if new playground equipment will be installed, local suppliers may offer Playground equipment financing options.
Replacing the existing wood chip surface was a major priority for the reconstruction.
“Wood chips are considered ADA accessible,” the 2019-20 budget stated. “However, they are dirty, painful, in constant need of refurbishing and really not friendly for wheelchairs or strollers regardless of their designation.”
“These types of improvements really make a difference,” Sedona resident Kevin McCall said. “Our kids were going bonkers tonight wanting to go to Posse Grounds to check it out.”
