Wednesday, Sep. 09, 2009

Plans to remake popular play spot

Almost 20 years ago, more than 2,500 volunteers gathered over five days and built All Children's Playground at Raleigh's Laurel Hills Park.

A committee of the United Way of Wake County launched the work to build the massive, castle-like structure of tunnels and corridors and other play equipment nearby for children with disabilities.

When Alice Lutz, the project coordinator, looked down on it from a hot air balloon during its grand opening in November 1991, she cried.

"You put so much into it," Lutz said recently. "Blood, sweat and tears."

Lutz is back again as project coordinator on a new plan to replace the playground off Edwards Mill Road -- worn by years of play and damaged by a fire set by vandals several years ago -- and build a new one called Sass-A-Fras: All Children's Playground.

The new space will be for all kids, but geared especially to those with disabilities.

The Frankie Lemmon Foundation, a local nonprofit organization that raises money for the Frankie Lemmon School for special-needs preschoolers, is playing the lead role this time. A steering committee formed this spring and plans a trip to see other playgrounds across the state this fall.

Goal: 2011 opening

Work is just beginning and plans are tentative. But the group is working with city officials, who say they are excited about the prospect. The plans were presented to the City Council in July.

The goal is to gather volunteers in spring 2011 to build the playground and hold a grand opening in November 2011, 20 years after the first All Children's opened. The group has begun to raise funds for the project.

Raleigh has some money in its budget for playground renovations. But with 65 playgrounds across the city, there's not enough to pay for the scale that Sassfras planners are hoping to build: an $850,000 project.

"This will allow the replacement of All Children's at Laurel Hills to come much faster," said Wayne Schindler, the city's park superintendent.

Soon after it opened in 1991, All Children's quickly became the go-to park for many families of young children. It stood out as a place much different than the usual playground combination of swing, slide and jungle gym.

And it helped to spark the construction of similar playgrounds built with the help of volunteers in Wake County: KidsTowne at Apex's Kelly Road Park and Kids Together at Cary's Marla Dorrel Park.

Accommodating needs

Sassfras planners are now taking some of their cues from Kids Together, a park that integrates the play equipment, much of which is also designed for children with special needs, into the park's natural setting.

A large sandy area is shaded by tall trees. A climbing structure is surrounded by tall grasses and shrubs. And it's hard to pick out most of the equipment designed for handicapped kids.

Lutz said she'd like the new design to better incorporate equipment for special-needs children and others. All Children's has an area for children with disabilities, but some wouldn't be able to use its main feature: the giant castle-like climbing structure.

"I hate to say it, but it's almost separate-but-equal," she said. "You have this chunk of it for [children with disabilities] and here's this whole other piece that they're really excluded from."

The conversation to remake the park picked up last spring when Lutz met for coffee with Darryl Lester, whose daughter has special needs. Lester was interested in playground design for special-needs kids. They were meeting to talk about something unrelated, but he mentioned his interest.

"She started laughing," Lester said. "And she said, 'Did you know I'm the person who led that project 20 years ago?' And that has been the whole story about this journey with this playground we're working on."

Frankie Lemmon's help

A few months after that informal coffee, the Frankie Lemmon Foundation had signed on to serve as the project's fiscal agent and a steering committee was formed. So far, Stewart Engineering and R + M, a marketing firm, have offered their services for free, Lutz said. And many of those involved in the original project are helping.

At the Frankie Lemmon Foundation, leaders are excited about an opportunity to provide students with a new place to play. Executive Director Lenora Evans said the playground will allow the school at Hayes Barton Baptist Church to expand after school and summer programs.

"This is going to be a park that really caters to children with special needs and their brothers and sisters," Evans said. "It's going to be very natural for a child with special needs. For the first time probably in a special needs child's life, it will be an opportunity for them to feel at home in a play space."

A unique park

On a recent morning, moms sat under shaded picnic tables as their children navigated through the tunnels and corridors. The city recently made some repairs to the structure, replacing old boards with new ones.

Parents said they were excited about a new playground, though they like what is there already.

Meghan Costello-Ishak was there with her 18-month-old daughter. She hoped planners keep the shade trees but replace the equipment with something that's not wood. That's in the plan, organizers say.

Fonda Sharp visited for the first time with her 3-year-old and 6-month-old sons.

"It's different from the other parks we go to," she said. "They don't have the structure to climb. It keeps them busy. It's unique."