Harriott Avenue Land of Laughter Playground: A Matter of Improving City’s Infrastructure

| April 18, 2018

OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) – Improving infrastructure is the driving force behind Oil City’s plans for rebuilding the Land of Laughter Playground on Harriott Avenue.

(All photos are renderings of what the new Land of Laughter Playground and its equipment will look like. Photos are courtesy of Oil City.)

“One of the goals we have is to develop infrastructure for Oil City,” Oil City Manager Mark Schroyer said. “This satisfies one of those goals.”

Schroyer also hopes the development of a new and improved playground will also help give kids a place to socialize and enjoy themselves.

“Once you give kids something to do and a way to enjoy themselves and socialize, it’s good for them and it’s good for the city,” Schroyer said. “We hope it has an effect on the city and reduces crime.”

The Land of Laughter Playground at Harriott Avenue was built in the 1990s through efforts of community volunteers and community fundraising.

“They were great,” Schroyer and Kelly Amos, Director of Community Development for Oil City, both said.

“To get almost 20 years out of the playground with its wooden equipment was pretty good.”

As a nod to those volunteers and donors, Amos said the wooden slats that have their names on it at the playground will remain in place.

“They are still there and will remain in place,” Amos said.

Those slates will pretty much be the only thing from the old playground, though, which was recently torn down with the help of BKI Excavating of Oil City thanks to Bret Klapec, whose services saved the city thousands of dollars, according to Schroyer.

“The site has been cleared, and we have selected several new playground pieces,” Schroyer said. “They will be safe, modern, and colorful pieces.”

Schroyer said the city is expecting delivery of the pieces in the next couple of weeks and hopes to start construction on the renovated playground by mid-May, weather permitting.

“We hope to have it up and running by mid-June in time for playground season,” Schroyer said.

In addition to the playground equipment, the city is also looking to add green space and landscaping as well.

Amos said part of the push for the renovated playground has to do with federal funding the city receives.

“We need to make it ADA (Americans with Disabilities) accessible,” Amos said. “This assists in the transition plan for that.”

Schroyer and Amos believe the overall costs of this phase of the project will be around $90,000.00 with almost $84,000.00 ($83,930.97) coming from the purchasing and installation of the playground equipment and the rest going to the green space, mulch, and trees.

“We are almost there,” Schroyer said about the city finding the money to pay for the project. “We are expecting to have a major announcement at next week’s council meeting towards the project.”

Schroyer said all of the money so far for the playground has come from city sources, including $17,000.00 from an old revolving loan fund that the city council voted to transfer to the new playground at its March 22 meeting, and local donations.

“We also have budgeted $10,000.00 per year for playground improvements and have rolled that over the last two years for this project,” Schroyer said.

Donations have also flowed in from local organizations, businesses and individuals, according to Schroyer, including a $1,050.00 grant from the Take Pride Grant; $1,000.00 donations from Klapec Trucking, the Oil City Eagles, the Oil City Moose, and the PNA Club; a $500.00 donation from Petrolia Lodge F&AM that was announced at last week’s council meeting; a $250.00 donation from Barr’s Insurance; a $200.00 donation from the Pulaski Club; and a $100.00 donation from SMS Millcraft. Those donations total $6,100.00 but don’t include donations from individual citizens.

“We just had someone come in Tuesday with a $75.00 check to go towards the project,” Schroyer said. “The generosity of local businesses and individuals has been great. It’s nice to see even in down economic times people still have the ability to help their city.”

Schroyer also said the city has some money from an insurance settlement it received that is putting towards the playground as well.

As for the playground itself, the equipment was purchased from Game Time through a US Communities program that is like the Pennsylvania CoSTARS program that helps municipalities find lower prices for a variety of equipment as opposed to having to bid it out itself. The installation of the equipment will be handled by Bramble and Company out of Sarver, Pa., who specializes in the installation of playground equipment.

“The insurance companies are very specific with how the installation is done,” Amos said. “These are the same companies (both the equipment and the installation) who did the playground at Justus Park.”

The current plans for the playground include a swing set, a multiple-slide setup, rings, monkey bars, a kid slide, and a Merry-Go-All, which is like a Merry-Go-Round but for everyone.

“We chose the colors we did for the equipment because they are colors that don’t fade,” Amos said.

Schroyer said that a lot of the cost of the equipment and the playground comes from hidden costs that deal with insurance.

“Municipalities used to have immunity from playground-related lawsuits,” Schroyer said. “That is happening less and less, so new pieces are more scrutinized. A lot of the cost is hidden behind in the scenes in insurance.”

The city is still accepting donations, and any money over the current cost of the project will go to buying more equipment for the playground.

“It’s a huge area,” Schroyer said. “We can definitely put more equipment there than we currently have planned. This is Phase One of the project. We could add a second and third phase if the funding is there.”


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