The Playgrounds Issue of Landscape Architect and Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. Kids Cove Playground is one of several great projects we are excited to showcase on LandscapeArchitect.com.

The project replaced a 1970's Leather's playground that was beloved by the community but had aged to the point that it needed replacement. A committed group of accessibility advocates, the Playgrounds for All Committee, had been working for over a decade to build a more accessible playground at one of the City's most celebrated parks, several miles away from the original Kids Cove at the downtown Mattson Park.

When the city encouraged the Playgrounds for All Committee to look at Mattson Park and replacement for the original Kids Cove as their focus the ball really started rolling. The Committee made a commitment to the City that they would raise $300,000 as a fifty percent match to a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant to finance the building of the park. The MNRTF has contributed over 1.4 billion dollars to Michigan communities for outdoor recreation since its inception in 1976. It has made a huge difference in the lives of every Michigan citizen and is worthy of an article of its own.!!! (This year marks the 50th year of the MNRTF, if you are interested in more about the program contact Jon Mays at mayesj@michigan.gov) . The city was successful in securing a MNRTF grant of $300,000 towards the project and advertised for design services.

 

As a local Landscape Architect, and father to two boys, Bill Sanders knew that any new playground would have big shoes to fill as far as community expectations were concerned, but also that it would have a long way to go to provide a truly inclusive experience and earn a place as a beloved park. Sanders & Czapski Associates, with an office a block from Mattson Park assembled a team that included Progressive A/E from Grand Rapids, they had recently collaborated with them on another hallmark accessibility project, Father Marquette Park. They also included Mara Kaplan with "Let Kids Play", a Pittsburgh Pennsylvania based company that specializes in not just accessible playgrounds but inclusive playgrounds.

The design team knew from be beginning that the Committee and City's "eyes were much bigger than their stomach" in their vision of what they wanted to accomplish. The project was kicked off with a deep dive into the Committee's dreams for the playground and a detailed description by the design team of what that meant as far as scope and size and budget of the project. The design teams early estimate showed a one-million-dollar shortfall to finance the sort of project the Committee envisioned. The Playground for All committee didn't so much a blink an eye and committed to raise the necessary fund by private donation.

Mara Kaplan led the community and stakeholders in a two-day workshop that was aimed at not only facilitating a public brainstorming exercise, but also in educating not only the community but the city and the Playgrounds for All Committee what it really means to provide an "inclusive playground". The team spent a great deal of time thru the design and construction of the project educating the community, project donors and others what it means to be inclusive. A common expectation was that an inclusive playground was really just a playground for handicapped children. That understanding is expected because all too often it is children with a disability that are left out when it comes to any project. So naturally that group requires some additional focus as a project like this is planned. Mara's leadership was instrumental in making everyone understand that inclusion means everyone and that accessibility does not equal inclusion.

A faith in the project was evident in everyone involved. It seemed an impossible task for a city of slightly over 20,000 residents to raise a million dollars, but the Committee's resolve was resolute and inspired both the design team and the City's leadership. For the design team it was a little scary to design a 1.3-million-dollar project knowing that only $600,000 was available to build the park". It was likewise scary for the city to commit to a contract as the grant recipient knowing they did not have the additional funds that would be necessary.

The Committee - led by the CEO of the local Children's Museum, Neenah Ittner, no stranger to fundraising - raised over one million dollars in less than a year's time. The project was built by local Contractor Associated Constructors, many of their workmen played at the old Kids Cove as children. Kids Cove is now being enjoyed by the children residents and tourists from across Michigan. One of the primary goals of this project was that children of all abilities would be able to play together, not only in the same area but also on the same piece of play equipment making friends and learning that our differences don't separate us but link us together. The second goal was that tourists would see the success of a truly inclusive playground and take the idea of inclusion home with them to become a seed of inclusion in their own community.

To see more Playgrounds projects, go to: https://landscapearchitect.com/landscape-articles/lasns-commercial-retail-development#article1

For more information about submitting a project, go to: https://landscapearchitect.com/research/editorial/editorial-submissions.php