(Milford)– Some additional improvements are being made at some city parks in Milford.
Previous work at Florence Park included some re-grading, improved drainage, handicap parking, sidewalks, new trees being planted, and the construction of a new restroom/storm shelter facility. Jason Simpson of the Milford Parks Board tells KUOO news the attention now at Florence Park is on new playground equipment…
“All that playground equipment is staged at the park and they are getting ready to install it right now, provided the weather holds true for them. And we have one other item that we’re doing there at Florence and that is we’re re-designing the veteran’s memorial plaza, is what we call it, for when our American Legion comes out and does their annual Memorial Day ceremonies out there.”
Simpson says the former playground equipment at Florence Park is being re-purposed and will be moved to Buchanan Park in Milford where other improvements are planned as well…
“That playground equipment is being relocated over there. We’re putting a new basketball court in; we’re going to do a sidewalk system throughout the park; and then we’re also adding something that’s kind of fairly new, we don’t have one in this corner of the state, and it’s called the National Fitness Campaign Court.”
The city of Milford recently was awarded a grant for the court…
“It’s a concrete pad that’s essentially 30 foot by 60 foot. It has a dividing wall down the middle and on one half it has outdoor workout equipment. The other half is kind of like a gym court basically that you could do a yoga class, you could do fitness classes there. And then in the future we’re leaving room to also do a new bathroom over there and we’re going to construct a new shelter house.”
Simpson says the improvements at Florence Park will make that facility more accessible to those with disabilities…
“The neat thing about this playground equipment is it is all-inclusive playground equipment which allows people with handicap abilities to play on portions of the playground. We’re also replacing the pea rock with what’s called pour and play material, for fall protection, but it’s stiff enough if you have a wheelchair you can actually roll across the surface to get to the playground equipment, unlike pea rock. So some of the pieces of playground equipment that we have, people in wheelchairs can actually wheel onto a merry-go-round and they can go around. Or they can wheel into a swing and they can swing on a swing. We’re doing this for all ages, all capabilities. We’re just trying to make it for everybody.”
Simpson says they’re also accepting public donations to help out with the projects, as well as for future improvements at another city park in Milford, Memorial Park. We’ve included a QR code below. Donations can also be dropped off at the Milford City Offices.
Simpson says they’ll be holding a ribbon cutting once the projects are completed.
