The Commons Board and the Columbus Parks Board have approved a contract for improvements to the James A. Henderson Playground at The Commons.
The contract is with PLAYTIME LLC, a playground equipment manufacturing company with global headquarters in Englewood, Colorado. Parks director of business services Pam Harrell said that the company plans to finish work by March 1.
PLAYTIME’s original bid amount was $598,000. However, Harrell said the contract amount has since been revised and is now $698,851.83.
She said that PLAYTIME is now subcontracting some parts of the project out to a millwork company. This includes creating a wall to close off the playground for cleaning. She said that that part of the contract is $96,923.
“One of the things we suggested was doing a pocket door at both entrances, so that people won’t be constantly opening the gate,” Harrell said. “It will save on wear and tear, and the pocket door will hide inside the wall when it’s not needed. And our maintenance staff will pull it out when we need it.”
While the new contract amount is more than $100,000 more than the company’s original bid, it is still under the $700,000 ceiling set in the request for proposals that PLAYTIME responded to.
Harrell added that there is currently $935,000 left in the budget for the $1.4 million project.
“We just completed the Luckey Climber, and that’s already been paid, everything except for the reimbursables,” she said. “… We also will be doing some lighting work down there. We budgeted $50,000 for that, but we’re probably not going to be doing the fan.”
She said that the fan, which was originally budgeted in the same category as the lighting work, would have cost about $30,000.
“We’re going to be well below the $935,000 that we currently have as a balance,” she said. “And so our hope is that anything that we have remaining will go into a maintenance fund.”
Harrell has said in the past that the playground project is estimated to cost $1.4 million in total. This includes:
$700,000 for the work sought through the request for proposals, which was awarded to PLAYTIME
$500,000 for Luckey Climber maintenance
$50,000 for lighting work
$150,000 as a contingency fund in case of change orders
Harrell expressed eager anticipation of the playground updates, which she called “a win for the community.” Parks and recreation director Mark Jones noted that the project started in 2017.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Harrell said. “… It feels like forever, and raising money in a pandemic, who would’ve thought? … We’re excited about it.”
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The entire Commons playground project is estimated to cost about $1.4 million.
According to the project description, the planned repairs and updates to the James A. Henderson Playground include:
- Repairing and resurfacing the “pour and play surface"
- Replacing the Luckey Climber cable coating
- Fixing broken equipment on the toddler area and music wall
- Increasing lighting to allow play for evenings
- Redesigning the current lighting system to help with future maintenance
- Removing barrier walls so parents can watch their children more easily
- Purchasing “new playground technologies” that will make cleaning easier
- Making designated, safe play areas for infants and toddlers
- "Creating inclusive play opportunities will give every child with any ability the opportunity to explore the playground and play together without barriers"
- Adding "sensory play" to help the development of language skills, motor skills, and problem solving skills
Not all of the work on the playground is contracted to PLAYTIME; lighting work and Luckey Climber repairs are separate and will not be done by the company.
Columbus’s “only free indoor playground” at The Commons sees more than 100,000 visitors annually.
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