Inclusive playground gets finishing touches
With construction crews scheduled to install the final piece of equipment of Wrightsville Beach’s new inclusive playground this week, the town scheduled a ribbon-cutting ceremony for 5 p.m. Thursday, June 16 in Wrightsville Beach Park.
Construction on the playground, which was funded by a $300,000 Trillium Health Resources grant, has been ongoing since early April, during which time the playground has been closed. The playground’s completion was delayed slightly by the availability of the Liberty Swing, a swing for adults and children in wheelchairs that had to be shipped from Australia.
During a Monday, June 6 parks and recreation advisory committee meeting, parks and recreation program supervisor Katie Ryan said she expected the swing to arrive on Wednesday. After crews install the swing, she said, they would construct the playground’s rubber surface.
While the crews discarded most of the old equipment, they saved the newest piece, a playset for 2- to 5-year-olds. This was relocated to the field on the west side of the park on the other side of town hall, and Ryan said it is now open.
Considering handball
After hearing a presentation from community members about the sport of handball, the parks and recreation advisory committee added a handball facility to their wish list of activities for Wrightsville Beach Park.
Art Padilla proposed adding the facility, which, at its most basic, would be a concrete wall. The game resembles racquetball but the equipment is minimal, he told committee members. Players wear gloves because they use their hands to hit a small rubber ball against the wall.
The game can also be played in a three-wall or four-wall format. Those facilities are 20 feet wide, 40 feet long and 20 feet tall. Padilla felt such a facility would get lots of use in Wrightsville Beach Park because all ages and abilities can play the game.
“You’ve got guys playing into their 80s,” he said.
Committee members agreed a handball facility would be a positive addition to the park, and Ryan said that as a new facility, it would be a good fit for one of the state’s $500,000 matching grants. But the project might have to wait, as committee members already have a list of projects for which they want to seek grant money.
First on that list is a multi-use path around the northeastern perimeter of Wrightsville Beach Park, and the town’s early cost estimate for that project is $400,000.
“The multi-use path has the town’s support, and people asked for that over and over again,” committee chair Charlotte Murchison pointed out.
The committee also identified one potential issue with installing concrete handball courts. Impervious surfaces create stormwater runoff, and committee members agreed there are already plenty of impervious concrete driveways and parking lots around town.
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