1 of 3
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Construction crews work on updates to the Central Park playground on March 13.
2 of 3
Renderings courtesy of city of Homewood.
Renderings showing the new design of Homewood Central Park.
3 of 3
Renderings courtesy of city of Homewood.
Renderings showing the new design of Homewood Central Park.
Homewood is on the verge of christening its first full-scale playground that is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Rusty Holley, the superintendent of Homewood Parks and Recreation, said the playground at Central Park should be complete around April 1, no later than a week to 10 days after.
“That’s kind of where the timeline is leading right now,” Holley said, adding that what has been designed provides a lot more offerings for patrons.
“We’ve never had anything wheelchair-accessible on the playground,” he said. That includes the previous bark covering the ground, which was difficult to cross with a wheelchair or other mobility aids.
The revamped playground also will include components that are related to science, technology, engineering or math skills — elements that Homewood has never really had other than some separate panels on a play structure.
1 of 2
Renderings courtesy of city of Homewood.
Renderings showing the new design of Homewood Central Park.
2 of 2
Renderings courtesy of city of Homewood.
Renderings showing the new design of Homewood Central Park.
“This has three STEM play units that sit by themselves in the playground,” Holley said.
“They’ll be very interactive, for probably mainly younger kids. Those were items for an ADA setting, more things for those participants to come and do.”
Homewood’s other park spaces generally didn’t have enough space to provide full compliance to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“In our other playgrounds, they’re so small [that] all we were able to offer in the past, like when we redid Patriot, was the minimum requirements for ADA,” Holley said. “We didn’t have space and room to put a lot of ramps and those type items that make the things accessible.”
The new Central Park playground will include a ninja course, which should prompt more parent participation with the children.
“It brings more of a fitness aspect to the playground of people out there in the park,” Holley said. “Not so much working out, but just a fitness component to the playground area. We hope we’ll have even some of our older kids still active on the playground.”
Barry Smith, the city council liaison to the park board, didn’t try to hide her enthusiasm for the playground upgrades.
“We’ve never had a playground in the city that was fully accessible to anybody,” she said. “The fact that we’re going to have one that people in wheelchairs can access, kids in wheelchairs, ... they can play with their friends on the same toys, when previously they would have had to sit on the sidelines and just watch everybody else have fun.
“I love it. I do love it,” Smith said. “I think it’s a fantastic thing, and I’m so excited about it.”
Holley echoed that sentiment.
“We’re very excited about it,” he said. “We’ll love to see the feedback and everything once we are able to get it open.”
Smith said there is not yet a definitive plan for the beloved caterpillar structure — known as Mr. Bugsy — that has long been a part of Central Park. Chuck Kelly, a landscape architect who has done a lot of work with parks over the years, has come up with some ideas.
“The problem is it’s not going to be in this budget year, so Mr. Bugsy will probably have to be in storage until we can get the funding approved for whatever they decide,” Smith said.
Originally, there was consideration of incorporating the structure into a sign for the park. There were other ideas that weren’t going to be as big of a budget hit and that might have been done alongside the playground project.
“I think what they’re planning on now is a little bit more involved, and I think it’s going to cost a little bit more,” Smith said. “It’s probably going to have to fold into the [fiscal year] 24-25 budget. It probably won’t get funded until we do our budget in August. But, yes, there is going to be a plan.”
