MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS are slated to be made to KidSpot on Chestnut Street this year, including the removal of all wooden structures, the leveling of the slope to make it ADA-compliant, and the addition of accessible activities and structures for youngsters of all abilities. (Maureen Doherty Photo)
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — Throughout the spring and summer months, the town’s parks and sports facilities will benefit from major facelifts.
From new playground structures at both Ipswich River Park and KidSpot, to the refurbishing of the surfaces of the hockey rink, basketball courts and tennis courts at IRP, and the replacement of the artificial turf at Arthur J. Kenney Field, people of all ages will ultimately benefit from these capital investments for years to come. The tradeoff will be some inconveniences of varying duration due to construction activities.
Residents should be aware that certain facilities or sections of the parks will be off-limits for their own safety in the coming weeks and months, and should heed any park closure signs while also avoiding areas that are roped off during construction.
The Transcript toured IRP and KidSpot with Parks Director Marty Tilton this past Monday to get a first-hand look at the improvements on the horizon.
State funding from various sources will total $400,000, Tilton said, and when combined with $100,000 in additional funds provided by Parks and Recreation’s own retained earnings from its programs and fees, these long-term infrastructure improvements will not impact the local tax rate while improving the quality of life for townspeople and all users of the facilities.
“The important thing for all of these projects is we really have to thank Rep. Brad Jones and Sen. Bruce Tarr for securing the funding we’ve gotten,” Tilton said.
“We got $100,000 for the turf field (at NRHS); $100,000 for the playground and the tennis courts at IRP; another $50,000 for the basketball court and hockey rink; and $150,000 for KidSpot. Everything is coming at once. It’s crazy,” he said.
And Parks and Rec, out of our retained earnings, is putting in an additional $75,000 towards KidSpot and $25,000 to supplement the budgets for these projects for a total of $100,000.”
IRP playground removal to begin
First on the list to be addressed is the children’s playground at Ipswich River Park. According to Tilton, all of the existing wooden structures will be removed — including the plastic slides and the various climbing structures and rope bridge. These structures will be replaced with entirely new and ADA-compliant and modern playground equipment.
One of the kids’ favorite structures at the park will remain in place — the appropriately named Neptune. It looks like it came from outer space and it’s original to IRP. Its web-like ropes that reach a height of about 20 feet at the very top were replaced a few years ago, Tilton said, and it remains in excellent shape.
Tilton added that the two swing sets would remain as well; however, they will be adding one accessible swing plus a ramp to enable wheelchairs and strollers to more easily enter this area. All of the edging surrounding the swing sets will also be replaced and new ground cover added.
“Residents should be aware the playground will be closed during construction,” Tilton said.
Earlier this week Tilton received an updated timeline for this construction work. “We will be doing the removal of the existing wooden structures the middle to end of next week, and the construction of the new playground will start the beginning of the following week,” he said. Once the structures are removed the park will be closed for about two weeks, he said.
Cracked surfaces to be fixed
Over the years, the surfaces of the two tennis courts, the pair of basketball courts and the hockey rink have all cracked and the interim repairs made to them have not held up to the wear and tear on these facilities. With the available funds, all of them will be resurfaced this spring.
Tilton was also excited to report that the tennis courts will also be relined to include the dimensions for the extremely popular game of pickle ball. A future improvement to IRP will include the addition of dedicated pickle ball courts directly adjacent to the tennis courts. The horseshoe courts will be removed, he said, because no one ever uses them.
KidSpot improvements
Back in the late 1980s, long before IRP was even a concept, three young mothers in town set out to create a park that was welcoming to young children from infants to early elementary school. At the time the park facilities in town were located at the elementary schools and were designed for children in kindergarten or older. There was a swing set at North Parish Park and a small park with swings at Martin’s Pond, but not nearly the number of structures that exist there today (those would come later, thanks to the efforts of the Martin’s Pond community).
Thus, the concept of KidSpot was launched by Colleen Dolan, Margie Salt and Janice Sullivan. Originally funded by donations and built with donated labor, the entire community rallied around their efforts — businesses, families and individuals.
A few decades later, KidSpot was renovated with funds from the Hillview Enterprise. But today, the facility is definitely showing its age. It was also built several years prior to the advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) so therefore it is not accessible to children of all ages.
For starters, the slope of the site does not meet current standards, as it is too steep. Tilton said the entire site will be redesigned, the slope will be adjusted, all of the wooden climbing structures will be removed and the stone dust paths that always wash out will be paved. Only the swing set on the lower part of the site will remain.
This will obviously take quite a bit of work so the site will be closed for a longer period of time. But it won’t happen right away.
The funds are coming from two different state sources. The first $50,000 grant must be used by June 30 or it will expire. The design of the new playground will be seeded with these funds.
The remaining $100,000 from ARPA funding has yet to be released by the state, which has not been able to provide a definitive date to Tilton on when it will become available. There are also different rules attached to how the funding from the various sources may be expended that the Parks Dept. must follow.
Earlier this week, Rep. Jones’ office contacted DCR and the Office of Administration and Finance on behalf of the town to ascertain when the economic development funding will be released to enable the Parks Dept. to plan how to fund these necessary improvements to KidSpot. As of press time it was not yet known when that would occur but we’ll update the information as soon as it’s known.
Arthur J. Kenney Field
This summer, the turf field surface at Arthur J. Kenney Field will be replaced. Originally opened in time for the Thanksgiving Day football game in 2009, the artificial turf has reached the end of its useful life. The good news, according to Tilton, is the understructure remains sound and the Parks Dept. will be able to reuse the rubber pellets that keep the tufts of turf upright, saving the department money.
In order for the turf replacement to be completed in time for the start of the 2023 fall sports season, both the field and the track must be shut down as soon as school closes for the year. Tilton said it would not be possible for the track to be safely used during this construction project. The track is not being resurfaced.
The youth track and field camp offered every June by the NRHS track coaches and team members through Parks & Rec will be held at Ipswich River Park this year, he added.
Thanks staff
Tilton wanted to thank his staff as well. He runs his department with two full time staff members (who are lent to the DPW during snow events and other emergencies) and he has three part-time seasonal workers from the end of May to mid-August. He praised the abilities of all of his workers. His two full time workers are currently Mike Marciano, who grew up in town, and Brian Auld. Chris Deming is another local success story. “He started with me when he was 15 or 16 years old and then I hired him to work full-time with me, and look at him now!” (Deming is the DPW’s Operations Manager). The new Water Superintendent, Matt Prince, also started in the Parks Dept. working for Tilton.
Tilton added that his seasonal workers have gone on to successful careers in a variety of fields. “My seasonal kids are unbelievable. One is now a lawyer, one is a dentist, one is a hedge fund guy,” he said. For the coming season, he has one returning season worker and two new seasonal workers. One thing is certain: they’ll be exposed to a wide variety of projects this summer.