Mother’s Beach playground: Work underway to fix closed park damaged in winter storm

KENNEBUNK, Maine — With the arrival of warm weather, the Kennebunk Beach Improvement Association is working to repair and reopen a local playground battered by the big storm that hit the coast in December.

Currently, the playground at Mother’s Beach is closed, with yellow and red tape strewn along its fence, urging caution and warning people the site is not safe.

According to KBIA Executive Director Mimi Fox, the waves and flooding from the Dec. 23 storm tossed large rocks from the beach onto the playground and washed away a lot of the sand at the bases of the slides, swings and other structures. Benches and the standing spinners also were loosened from their footings.

To repair the playground, the damaged spinners and large rocks need to be removed and the sand needs to be raked back to cover all of the footings of the playground equipment, according to Fox.

“There will be no replacement for those spinners,” she said.

KBIA is an independent nonprofit organization that is separate from the town of Kennebunk and charged with providing recreational and educational programs to local young people. The organization owns the playground but makes it open and available to the public.

Fox said KBIA hopes to reopen the playground by early or mid-May, but a firm date has not been set.

“It entirely depends on how much progress we can make with our tradespeople and volunteers,” Fox said.

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The association’s property managers and contractors from Rimmer Construction will need to be on the scene to coordinate and supervise volunteering efforts, according to Fox.

Fox said she discussed the project with Town Manager Heather Balser, Public Works Director Bryan Laverriere, and Town Engineer Chris Osterrieder on April 12. She said that KBIA did not ask them for any assistance with making the playground ready for the summer but instead wanted to discuss possibly sharing resources to clean up the property after particularly damaging storms in the future.

“They were most gracious in speaking with us to help us brainstorm solutions for the future,” Fox said.

Spurling Fitness, located on Alewive Park Road, is proving to be a helpful partner in restoring the playground, according to Fox.

“Spurling Fitness has been exceedingly generous to donate both time and dollars to this endeavor,” she said. “They will help with the rock removal and sand spreading and will also donate funds from their race event in May.”

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The actual cost of the project is yet to be determined, Fox said. She noted, however, that the KBIA spent nearly $2,500 last year just to order new bolts for routine maintenance of the playground.

“And that was before the storm damage,” she said.

Fox added that the KBIA also has spent $800 on replacing swings during the past two years. A new bench will cost $725, she said.

“To date, KBIA has assumed these costs into our annual operating budget, without any assistance from any group beyond our members and donors,” Fox said.

The organization would be happy to accept donations for the playground, according to Fox. To contribute, visit the organization’s website at www.kbia.net and click on the “Support Us” tab.

Fox said the association needed to wait until the winter season had finally passed and spring had truly arrived before repairing the playground and preparing it to be reopened.

“I think it is easy to see months go by with no movement and think that it is not top of mind, but I assure you that no one was sitting by and letting these things go,” she said. “There is a history of storms running through March that we could not ignore. Thankfully, we did not get hit by another huge storm.”

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The playground is just one site of many along the coast that took a beating during the flooding and high winds of that pre-Christmas storm. For example, St. Ann’s Episcopal Church is seeking a permanent easement in Kennebunkport so that it may access town-owned land to repair and maintain its seawall, which was damaged by the storm. Farther south, businesses and structures at Perkins Cove in Ogunquit also experienced flooding and damage.

The Kennebunk Beach Improvement Association has been around since 1910 and has been responsible for the playground since its inception. The town received the site as a gift in 1907.

“We are committed to serving the community with that land to the extent that is possible,” Fox said. “To date, that has involved the playground, and we have been capable and happy to maintain it annually. Admittedly, it can be a costly endeavor – some years more than others.”

Fox said the association is aware that the impactful Dec. 23 storm will not be the last.

“We know that the storms of the last two winters are precursors to more frequent damage in the future,” she said. “I am very grateful to have the input from the town as we look at building a plan to visualize the future of our playground space in this new world of increasingly higher tides.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Mother’s Beach in Kennebunk ME: Playground being repaired after storm