FeedsGrants, fundraisers to pay for park improvements
Officials in the City of Wayne are hoping to make improvements to another park, and they’re looking for help.
The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Parks and Recreation Foundation will put on a golf outing next week in hopes to generate money to transform Soroptomist Park into a Boundless Playground, according to Kim Alexander, director of parks and recreation for the city.
“This is our first fundraiser for this,” she said.
She said she hopes it will be as successful as other fundraisers in the past—and with good reason. The city has improved six parks in recent years with relatively little expense to taxpayers. Two have been improved with Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)s but the other four have been paid for through fundraisers and partnerships with community organizations, such as the recent addition to Rotary Park I.
“For four out of six of these parks, we’ve raised every dime,” she said. “It’s quite an achievement for a community of our size.”
The fund-raising efforts are even more important now that the city is dealing with a tight budget situation that saw cuts made across the board, but particularly deep in the parks department.
The plans for the park include a new play structure, a new playing surface beneath and around it, additional paved pathways and some aesthetic improvements in the form of additional landscaping. The plan is to focus on the proximity of Roosevelt McGrath Elementary School and make the park a truly handicapped-accessible park.
“There’s s lot of ground level play with this kind of park, but there’s also a lot more to it,” Alexander said. “A wheelchair will be able to go to the very top of the play structure. It’s really unique.”
Subsequent phases include parking cutouts in the street nearby to allow for handicapped vans and school buses.
“It lends itself to a perfect site,” she said.
The paved paths are important because other surfaces aren’t as accessible to mobility-impaired children. Likewise the surface near the structure is different than what is traditionally found near play structures—it’s a somewhat soft, foamy surface that doesn’t clog up wheels.
All together, the two phases of the improvements will cost about $300,000. Alexander said none of that would come from the general fund, though. The city has applied for two grants that total about $225,000 that will help pay for the project. One of those, from the Michigan Trust Fund, would be $150,000. The other, from the Land and Water Conservation Fund would be for $75,000. There is also a new grant program that will soon come online through the Michigan Recreation and Parks Association and the Kellogg Foundation—a program designed particularly to improve handicapped accessible parks and playgrounds.
“That could be a huge source for us to tap into,” Alexander said.
The grants would require matching funds, and that’s where the fundraising comes in, Alexander said. The golf outing starts at 8 a.m. on July 19 at the Gateway Golf Course in Romulus. The cost is $90 per golfer. Hole sponsorships are also needed, starting at $125. Other corporate sponsorships are available, too. For details call the Parks and Recreation Department at (734) 721-7400.
The park improvements would most likely take place in two phases, the first of which would include the new play structure, the pathways and the new playing surface.
“They’re expensive, but they’re going to last at least 20-25 years—that’s the good part,” Alexander said. “The first phase of this will be the equipment and the pathways. The rest will follow.”
