Allyson Mahoney

Selectmen Approve Contract with New Canaan Company for Fencing Around Toddler Playground at Mead

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As part of a larger Mead Park playground project, officials voted last week to approve a contract with a New Canaan-based company to replace a fence at the site. A joint effort of the town and a nonprofit organization to replace the main playground structure as well as introducing a new rubberized surface is “well underway,” according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. The adjacent toddler playground at Mead also got new equipment, and the committee overseeing the project “has recommended that we replace the old fence with a new fence” there, Benko told members of the Board of Selectmen at their June 4 meeting, held in Town Hall. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectman Kit Devereaux voted 2-0 to approve a request from Benko to enter into a contract with Gannon Rustic Fence for $6,370. Selectman Nick Williams was absent.

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New Playground, Rubber Surface at Mead Park on Track for Late-May Completion

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The widely anticipated installation of a new playground and rubber surface at Mead Park—a project nearly two years in development—is expected to be completed next month, officials say. A collaboration between the town and Friends of Mead Park Playground, the project will see preparation work for the new play structures and a “Poured-In-Place” surface commence during the last week in April with a target completion date of late-May, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. The 20-year-old playground structure that had been there was recently removed (it’s going to be refurbished and sent for use in an underdeveloped country) after the New Canaan Department of Public Works’ Highway Department helped disassemble it in a single day, Benko told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their most recent meeting. “The first step to is to grade the area, level it off and then we will install the playground, put the stone in and the concrete borders and then the last step is to put the Poured-In-Place surface in,” he said at the meeting, held April 10 at Town Hall. “And that is probably going to be in mid- to late-May to put that in, because the temperatures should be in the 50s to do that.

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Wet Weather Delays Installation of New ‘Mead Park Playground’ To Spring

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The extremely wet fall weather has set back the baseball fields project at Mead Park, officials said last week, and one knock-on effect of that is a delay in the installation of a new playground area that now is not expected to open until the spring. Though the New Canaan Baseball project at Mead is “pretty much on schedule,” Recreation Director Steve Benko said, “the weather set them back” and there have been “some days they could not work, it was just too wet.”

It’s “critical” for New Canaan Baseball to get its paving done before a “Poured In Place” rubberized surface for new playground equipment at Mead is installed, and the contractor on the job has said the earliest he could start would be mid-November, Benko told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their regular meeting. “He said he’s is a little leery of that because once you get into December, the Poured In Place material is temperature sensitive,” Benko said during the meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. 

If the rubberized material is installed before the hardscape, there’s a risk that seams open up in it, Benko said. Referring to a contractor hired by Fort Wayne, Ala.-based GameTime, Benko added: “So the contractor felt it would be in our best interests to get the best possible job of surfacing if we could push off the installation the playground to the beginning of April. Then, he said, you’re not chasing the cold and you will do a good job with the surfacing.

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‘Mead Park Brings Families Together’: Newcomers Give $16,000 Toward New Play Structures, Rubber Surface

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A local moms-led effort to help the town acquire new playground equipment and rubber surfacing for a popular children’s area at Mead Park got a nice boost recently from one of New Canaan’s most established and generous service organizations. The Newcomers Club of New Canaan’s $16,000 grant to the Friends of Mead Park Playground will help the group move toward its fundraising goal of $203,000 (though more help is needed, see below) as a target installation date for this summer quickly approaches. “For so many members of Newcomers, Mead Park is the center of the community,” Newcomers President Claire Foster said in an email when asked about the grant. “Whether it be meeting up for a playdate, watching a child’s baseball game, or setting up for a family picnic, Mead Park brings families together. It is the mission of The Newcomers Club of New Canaan to facilitate and add enjoyment to our newest neighbors’ transitions to town, and we felt that by supporting the restoration of one of our town’s most beloved parks, we are supporting all our neighbors by laying the groundwork for many wonderful memories to be made in a safe and fun environment.”

The funds are deeply appreciated by Allyson Mahoney and Monica Chimera, co-chairs of the Friends of Mead Park Playground.

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Town Enters $150,000 Contract for New Playground Equipment for Mead Park

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Town officials on Tuesday agreed to enter into a contract with a Fort Payne, Ala.-based company for new playground equipment at Mead Park. The $150,889 contract with GameTime is part of $190,000 budgeted for the current fiscal year to upgrade the outdated equipment there now, with the balance of going to removing existing footings and wood chips at the kids’ main playground at Mead and to grade the site for the new gear. Though the installation itself is not planned until next summer, placing the order with GameTime now will lock up a price and avoid an additional $7,500 in fees, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. Benko told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting that a new “Pour In Place” or “PIP” smooth rubber surface that will surround the playground equipment—as well as some additional play structures—are to be funded by the nonprofit Friends of Mead Park Playground. The Friends group, founded by two New Canaan moms, “came up with the plans,” Benko said during the meeting, held at Town Hall.