Lakewood Ranch CDD plans playground repairs

CDD 4 to spend $15,000 on Greenbrook Adventure Park.

By Pam Eubanks
| 9:00 a.m. August 21, 2019

Many components on the larger multislide playground structure at Greenbrook Adventure Park are rusted or corroded. Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 4 will spend about $15,000 on repairs.

East County
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Greenbrook resident Bonnie Sidiski walks through Greenbrook Adventure Park nearly every day, and even on the rainy ones, she sees lots of children playing.

That’s why Sidiski and fellow supervisors on the board for Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 4, which owns and operates the park, agreed the district should invest $15,300 to repair playground equipment.

“It’s very necessary to keep it safe for the children,” Sidiski said. “It’s constantly in use.”

PATH CHANGES?

Lakewood Ranch Town Hall is evaluating options to improve safety along the multiuse path connecting the parking lot by Greenbrook Adventure Park’s pavilion to the dog park at the back of the property.

Community Development District 4 Supervisor Bonnie Sidiski said there are times when vehicles traveling to or from the dog park do not properly yield to pedestrians, even though the path is multipurpose. She has asked staff members for recommendations to improve safety.

Operations Director Paul Chetlain said the department will consider widening the concrete path, dividing the existing path with posts (to separate lanes of traffic) and finding other ways to segregate pedestrians from vehicles.

Chetlain said discussions are preliminary and that a conceptual plan and possible costs still need to be formalized, likely within a few months.

Operations staff members said maintenance requests for the larger multislide playground structure at Greenbrook Adventure Park began trickling in about a year ago but increased significantly over the past three months. Staff members had been compiling a list of needed repairs and performed an evaluation of equipment after hearing the conditions had deteriorated significantly.

During the board’s Aug. 14 meeting at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall, staff members recommended making the repairs, which consist of broken support brackets, rusted climbing components and compromised platforms.

The project should extend the useful life of the equipment by at least five to seven years, according to the operations department.

CDD 4 Supervisor John Freeman said the repairs are important as the district works toward future equipment replacement.

“[The playground] is a great place for kids to get out of the house and be outside,” he said. “It’s highly used.”

Town Hall Financial Director Steve Zielinski said the repairs should extend the playground’s useful life through 2028, instead of fiscal year 2023.

The CDD already has reserved about 70% of the future playground equipment cost, which will total $52,000. Annually, the district is setting aside about $1,850 for the project.

Zielinski said the repairs had not been part of the budget but that savings from other budget categories from the fiscal year 2019 budget will cover the expense.

Town Hall Operations Director Paul Chetlain said the district will move forward as quickly as possible but must order parts and wait for them to be delivered.

He said repairs likely will be completed by the end of September.