By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Moorestown Sun
The play area at Fullerton Park was demolished and removed last week, but hope to replace it with something similar to the playground residents built 18 years ago remains high.
Rick Crane, selection committee chair for the Friends of Fullerton Committee, said group members have been working on selecting a vendor to provide playground equipment to replace the demolished site. Members have narrowed choices down from six to four and hope to make a recommendation to Council in July. The choice of what will replace the playground is, ultimately, up to Council.
“The selection committee for the Friends of Fullerton Park project (is) hard at work meeting with various playground companies. The goal is to restore the iconic feel of what the community refers to as Zelley,” Crane said. “There are a lot of great choices and we hope to have our suggestions to Town Council for their final approval by the end of July.”
The park was closed this spring after a visit from the township’s risk manager found multiple issues with the site, including the fact that is was not up to code, had multiple safety issues and possibly contained CCA — a chemical preservative containing arsenic, chromium and copper that protects wood from rotting.
The township has designated $175,000 toward rebuilding a new play structure at the playground as well as replacing fencing, surface material and picnic tables. Any additional funds would need to be raised by residents in fund-raising campaigns or corporate sponsorships.
FOF Committee Chair Keith Omlor said several factors will contribute to the ultimate price of the park such as whether the new play area will be built via community build or vendor install.
“Once we decide which way we’re going to go which path then we can start to really formalize some of the fund-raising efforts,” Omlor said.
Group members said fund-raising efforts planned to raise subsequent funding will not begin until the group receives direction from Council and a design plan for the park is in place.
“We decided that we need to wait until the new playground, the actual structure, is selected until we can really move forward with any big fundraising and so forth, but we have a lot of really great ideas,” Beth Hughes, chair of the group’s fundraising committee, said.
Hughes said the group has several ideas in the works, including selling bricks, spindles, benches or whole pieces of playground equipment with engraved family names.
“It will all depend on what plan we go with,” Hughes said.
Meanwhile, group members are still asking local children to visit their Web site to take a survey asking what they would like to see ultimately replace the playground at Fullerton Park. The results of the survey will help to formulate a vision for what will replace the playground.
The group is scheduled to make a recommendation to Council during a July 12 Council meeting; however, group members said they might request a two-week extension.
“I’m hoping that we’ve done our job,” Omlor said. “I hope that we’re going to put in front of them options that are going to make everybody happy, or at least incorporate things that the community has asked for.”
The survey and frequent updates about the group’s progress are available through the Friends of Fullerton Web site, www.friendsoffullerton.com.
