Accessible playground under construction at Oakledge Park after 10 years of advocacy

The city of Burlington will soon have a park where any child can play.

Oakledge Park's universal playground, which will be accessible for people of all abilities, is being constructed now and will have its grand opening in June, just in time for summer.

The project, proposed 10 years ago by special educator Julia Wayne, was carried to fruition through her organization Oakledge for All and Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront. The collaborators fundraised, planned the location, hired a design firm and received feedback from accessibility groups and parents over the past 10 years with bumps along the way from pandemic-induced funding delays and increased construction costs.

Burlington parks project manager Jon Adams-Kollitz said the persistence of all who worked on the project has been key to its success.

"This is a project of a lifetime in many ways," Adams-Kollitz said. "I'm super proud of the way everyone has just not given up on this project."

What the playground will look like

The playground will not resemble a traditional play structure, but will offer several areas for play.

Instead of a large metal web of monkey bars, ladders, slides and bridges, the universal playground will have a soft, rubbery surface and feature small hills to mimic heights reached on playground structures without the need for climbing. The design features interactive play stations with musical instruments, talk tubes, a slide big enough to fit a whole family and a carousel that a wheelchair can lock onto. The highest point of the former play structure was 9 feet above the ground and the highest point on the new playground will also be 9 feet, but at the top of a hill instead of a tower.

The first phase of the playground was built in 2019 and features swings with head and back support. This small area will be connected to the larger playground being built now, which is about two-thirds complete.

The project also includes upgrades to the bathrooms closest to Oakledge Cove to make them wheelchair accessible as well as five wheelchair-accessible parking spaces which will be on the same side of the road as the playground.

How it came to be

During a postgraduate fellowship program at University of Vermont, Julia Wayne researched accessibility in Vermont and found that many of her students at Hinesburg Community School could not access their community playgrounds. She decided advocate for more accessible play spaces for children and adults of all abilities and went to Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront in 2012 with the idea for an accessible playground.

Wayne said the project wouldn't have happened without other accessibility advocates and parents who have pushed the project forward with her, along with Adams-Kollitz in the parks department and Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden.

Wayne formed the organization Oakledge for All to advocate for the project and fundraised about $133,000. Though the parks department was able to secure several grants including a substantial federal grant for the project, the project is still underfunded due to dramatic increases in construction costs since the pandemic. Oakledge for All is still fundraising for elements including the slide and the installation of all the equipment. Adams-Kollitz said they're also looking for landscaping donations, as much of the landscaping budget had to be cut.

Though her advocacy for Oakledge's universal playground is almost complete, Wayne will continue to push for more accessible playgrounds in Burlington. She sees the future playground at Oakledge as a regional playground for children in northern Vermont and New York who cannot play on regular playgrounds.

"We really want to make Vermont more inclusive," she said. "We're working with Burlington Parks and Rec so that it's kind of built into their vision when they're rebuilding their playgrounds, to make them accessible."

Those who wish to make donations can do so through Oakledge for All's website at https://oakledgeforall.org/ or by writing a check to the Parks Foundation of Burlington and noting Oakledge for All in the memo.

Contact Urban Change Reporter Lilly St. Angelo at lstangelo@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @lilly_st_ang

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Burlington parks: Universal playground being built at Oakledge Park