New playground at RVC Rec Center near completion

‘Smart’ equipment, spray park highlight newly renovated area

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The renovated playground behind the Rockville Centre Recreation Center is just weeks away from opening, and will feature a new spray park, offering residents a place to cool down in the summer heat.

After nearly five months of construction, Recreation Center officials say they hope to have the Children’s Playground open by mid-May. The only work yet to be completed is the application of the rubberized safety surface around the play structures and trimming the shrubbery.

According to village officials, the playground cost $450,000. The village received a $390,000 grant from Nassau County and will fund the rest. Officials did not break down the cost of the water park, new apparatuses and the rubberized surface.

“Once again, the Village of Rockville Centre is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to receiving grants and donations to improve our community,” Mayor Francis X. Murray said. “This new playground and spray area will greatly enhance our Recreation Center and provide countless hours of enjoyment for our youngest residents.”

The park will have features for children young and old. There will be two separate swing sets with bucket seats for toddlers; spinner bowls; a two-slide apparatus with a plastic climbing wall and netting; another area with dual mini-slides, a corkscrew climber and work wall; and a “Smartplay” castle, where children and adults will be able to download apps on their smartphones and iPads to enjoy stories and activities.

The multi-tiered, blue and yellow climbing structure is the only apparatus remaining from the old playground.

But the most anticipated feature of the new park is a spray area in which seven circular water spouts surround a green sprinkler tower. The plumbing was completed earlier this month, and, according to Parks and Recreation Superintendent Ginger Creegan, the water shoots “tested beautifully.” The spouts can be activated with the push of a button.

The village will now have two playgrounds opening within blocks of each other in the next year. The Recreation Center is on Oceanside Avenue, and an inclusive playground on the east end of Hickey Field, on Sunrise Highway, will be named after late longtime recreation Superintendent Anthony Brunetta next spring.

“We’ve been waiting,” Creegan said on April 13. “We’ve had such lousy weather, and we were behind a few weeks [because of] the snowstorm and all the rain. It put us back several weeks.”

She added that Brunetta’s favorite feature from the old playground, the light blue whale, was moved to the north side of the area to make way for the spray park.

The Ugly Duckling and Tinderbox “smart” playground came from the Denmark-based Kompan company, and was inspired by the works of Hans Christian Andersen. The Little Mermaid is also featured on the apparatus.

“The playground structures were created to enhance language and movement development as well as social learning with parents and teachers in truly fun ways,” Kompan Innovation Director Torben Hundevad explained during the company’s 2014 unveiling of the structure at the Head Start national conference in Long Beach, Calif.

Users of the new apparatuses can scan the QR codes on the side with their smartphones or tablets and download Kompan’s Play Gate app, where children can watch all of the characters come to life.

The climbing wall challenges children’s problem-solving skills and is suitable for a variety of skill levels. There is a slide from the ship side and, on the balcony on the other side, children can descend another corkscrew pole from the top of the castle.

The Ugly Duckling facade has manipulative elements like a small scale and a nest with movable eggs and a chicken. The other side features a treasure chest with coins that can be opened or closed.