OCEAN CITY — Ocean City Recreation and Parks officials were generally pleased with the look of some potential playground structures for the beach, but concerns about the cost of maintaining them continue to be an issue.
On Tuesday, the Recreation and Parks Committee viewed some of the potential playground structures for the beach at North Division Street after putting out a request for proposal earlier this fall. Committee members reviewed about a half of dozen proposals including a wide variety of features, from a full jungle gym set-up in the form of a sea turtle, complete with slides, ladders and climbing features to a whale with its huge head emerging from the sand on one end and its tail protruding from the beach on the other end.
Committee members were generally pleased with each of the proposals, which all fit into the proposed budget of $26,000. In October, the committee agreed to keep the bid price at around the budgeted $26,000, which can and will be augmented with private donations, and see what came back.
In 2013, the town removed the long-standing wooden playground structures, or “beach toys,” for a variety of reasons including potential safety hazards and some of the late night activities by some for whom the toys were not intended. In the many months since, the town has wrestled with replacing the beach toys, from a financial and practical standpoint.
While all agree the beach toys offer a nice free amenity for families on the beach and Boardwalk, replacing the decades-old equipment has been challenging. Two years ago, the newest addition was the dinosaur bones structure at 3rd Street, which has appeared to achieve the desired goals, but town officials are now wrestling with adding more playground equipment in the downtown area.
While the dinosaur bones play structure, made largely of precast concrete, remains on the beach throughout the winter, the old wooden play structures were removed each fall and reinstalled each spring. Most of the proposals reviewed by the committee this week would require winter storage.
“Anything we put on the beach is going to take a beating,” said Recreation and Parks Director Susan Petito. “There is really nothing we can do about it. Whatever we put out there will have to come off the beach and be reinstalled each year.”
Recreation and Parks employee and committee member Calvin Ginnavan said some of the proposed beach toys had bright, colorful paint schemes and it was uncertain how they would hold up in the elements.
“No one really knows how long the paint will last on these things out there,” he said. “We’re the first to do it.”
Some of the proposed structures would be easier to maintain than others. For example, the whale structure of the frog and Monarch butterfly structures would be easier to remove and reinstall, but their bright colors might not withstand the elements as well.
“The maintenance would be much less,” said Petito. “We’re not sure how the colors would hold up and there are no warrantees for the beach with the sand blasting and the salt air.”
Councilman Dennis Dare said all of the proposals received more or less fit into the budget of $26,000, but the maintenance cost for each was unpredictable.
“It seems like that’s where we’re struggling,” he said. “We are seeing some really cool structures, but we have to balance it with what it costs to maintain it each year.”
Councilman Wayne Hartman said whatever option is ultimately chosen, it shouldn’t be so elaborate and inviting that it takes away from the other amenities.
“Honestly, we don’t want to pull families off the Boardwalk,” he said. “Let the kids check it out while mom and dad do something, but we don’t want them down there for two hours.”
