The Shamrock Park playground will be closed for a number of weeks – starting on Wednesday, May 10 – in order to install several pieces of equipment that can be used by children with disabilities. A new rubberized playing surface, as well as a handicap-accessible pathway, also will be installed.
“It is being closed for a wonderful reason,” Bel Air Mayor Kevin Bianca said while announcing the closure at a recent Board of Town Commissioners meeting.
Signs announcing the closing were posted on multiple pieces of playground equipment as of Monday. The playground will be closed through Friday, June 16; people can contact the town’s Department of Public Works at 410-638-4536 for more information, according to the signs.
Town officials do not plan to remove any of the amenities that are currently in the playground, including a lion’s head drinking fountain, two swing sets, animal sculptures, jungle gyms with sliding boards, a Little Free Library bookcase and a pavilion.
The new amenities slated for the playground include equipment that children with disabilities and their caregivers can use, including an “expression swing” – an adult and child can swing in it together – as well as a “spinning seat” and a “merry-go-all,” according to town Planning Director Kevin Small.
The pathway, which is expected to be similar to the brick pathway around the park’s William A. Humbert Amphitheater, will be between the sidewalks along Lee Way and Pennsylvania Avenue. That will allow users to get to the playground from either street.
The “all-weather, handicap-accessible” pathway is designed so children and adults can get to “all of the park elements,” Small said.
The playground is scheduled to close May 10, with playground construction lasting through May 24. Construction of the pathway will follow. That schedule depends on multiple factors, including the weather, however, according to Small.
Contact Media and Public Relations Specialist David Anderson at 410-688-3020 or danderson@belairmd.org.