Questions and Answers
Playground Rehabilitation - Bridge Street School
1) A large percentage of the estimated budget is the rubber play surfacing. Please describe in
detail why this surfacing has been chosen over others, including cost, maintenance, safety,
aesthetics, etc. Please also provide other examples where this surfacing has been used
successfully.
The primary goal of this project is to rectify the problems presented by the hard-packed dirt area with a
sustainable solution for this proposed investment of public funds.
When working to identify the best solution, we spoke with and/or toured the property with representatives
Turfgrass Science and Management Department,
from the UMass Conway School of Landscape
Design, Omasta Landscaping, Shumway landscaping services, and the Rollie Lebeau and David
Pomerantz from Northampton Central Services. These experts provided the following professional
assessments of the Bridge Street School property:
1) Grass: will not grow in this space on a long-term basis given usage; will take 2 years of zero use to get
established; requires herbicide applications before new grass is planted; requires continued semi-annual
aeration and fertilization, and regular spring through fall mowing; not handicapped accessible.
2) Sod: will quickly deteriorate given the amount of regular daily use the playground receives; requires
irrigation system for maximum sustainability; sod materials estimated at $36,000. Requires same
maintenance, aeration, fertilization and mowing as grass; not handicapped accessible.
3) Bark mulch: leads to washout and clogging the drywells; requires regular replenishing; not
handicapped accessible; poor surface for running;
4) Rubber tiles: highly unstable and cause tripping accidents and are costly for an area this size.
5) The large snow pile, amassed every winter when the school’s parking lots are cleared of snow, covers
the basketball court area on the proposed design. This mix of sand and salt kills any plantings in a large
area, further reducing the viability of grass, but will provide no adverse effects to the proposed asphalt
cover.
Given this information, we did not pursue these as viable solutions and did not price out their costs.
For the most highly sustainable solution, the poured rubber presents a long-term, ADA-compliant surface
that requires little-to-no maintenance costs or manpower for many years. Additionally, the rubber
materials and installation are covered by a 7-year warranty and are certified by IPEMA, the International
Play Equipment Manufacturers Association www.ipema.org.
This material is in use at these two locations:
1) School Street Park, Agawam, MA (since 2007)
2) Unity Park, Turners Falls, MA (2011)
2) Although the School Department has submitted a letter of support, it indicates that no money is
available to contribute to this project in the coming years. With this noted, there is nothing in the
application that indicates the School Department's commitment to upkeep and maintenance. What
entity will be responsible for maintenance in perpetuity to prevent a recurrence of the current
problems?
While the School Department and Central Services department state in their supporting letters that they
do not have funds nor manpower to complete the proposed Bridge Street School rehabilitation project,
they are responsible for maintenance of the property as a City of Northampton and School property.
Because the proposed solution does not require mowing, fertilizer application, weeding, aeration or other
regular maintenance, there is no anticipated recurrence of the problem or conditions leading to the same
problem. The poured rubber surface requires virtually no maintenance other than spot hosing which can
be performed by school custodians if needed. The asphalt basketball area is maintenance free, and the
wood chip area can be replenished when the area under the existing playground is enhanced on an
annual basis by Central Services.
The current problems of the playground area at Bridge St. School have occurred because the high
amount of student use never permitted a turf grass area to become established. Since that area was the
only place to play there never was sufficient time to allow turf to take hold in order to sustain that amount
of wear and tear.
Going forward with assurances by Berkshire Design Group that their choices for materials should hold
up for a number of years with a modest maintenance program, we feel confident that our grounds
department along with assistance from PTO volunteers can maintain the improved space. This will be no
different than what our grounds department does on a weekly basis throughout the year at all of our
schools.