By Laura Mottram
The Rio Del Mar Park, or ‘the Blue Park’ as it is fondly known, is the hub of the community at Rio Del Mar Elementary School.
For decades, it has been the spot where families drop off and pick up their kids, where lifelong friendships are made as kids burn off the post-school energy; where birthdays are marked, and Kinder promotion is celebrated; where kids meet their buddies for weekly reading sessions; and after school, where dogs chase balls, whilst their owners exercise.
But now, the swings have been removed and the playground caution-taped off because the structure is too dangerous to play on. Instead of kids playing after school and parents catching up, families head straight home.
Not only is the play structure unsafe, it floods during heavy rain creating a swamp of dirt and floating mulch (the kids bring rain boots on those days to wade to the swings and play structure!). The direct access ramp from Pinehurst that cuts between two houses is dangerously steep, with no handrail.
The grills at the back of the park are a health hazard — rusted, leaning and overgrown with weeds. Whilst the entire grassy area, which families must walk across as there is no paved pathway from the access ramp, is pockmarked with gopher holes that are a serious injury hazard.
The School and Rio Del Mar Parent Alliance is talking to the district and the county (who under a 1994 Joint Partnership Agreement share responsibility for the park) about replacing the playground.
We are grateful to have the support of Superintendent Heather Contreras and Supervisor Zach Friend to get this project done.
The issue now is money! The district and county are both working to find funds to put into the project, but the cost of replacing the current play structure with a pour-and-play ADA accessible structure would be around $250,000.
We hope that we can engage the support of the Rio Del Mar and wider Aptos community to fundraise and come together to create a wonderful park for our school and neighbors to enjoy.
With community involvement, we envisage a project that would be completed in three stages:
- Replace the current condemned play structure with an ADA-accessible structure.
- Replace the dangerous access ramp with stairs or ramp that meet codes, and join the ramp to the play area via a walkway.
- Install a multi-use sports court (near to where the grills currently are) — with facilities for basketball, tennis, and pickleball.
For the moment, we are working with the district and county on a plan of how to proceed, and we hope to soon share information on how people can donate to the project. In the meantime, we would love to hear from any interested parties with ideas for fundraising or offers of help.
Please follow and support our community at www.RestoreRioDelMar.com or on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/groups/restoreriodelmar.
Please reach out to me at [email protected] with any questions or suggestions you may have. Thank you for your support!
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Laura Mottram is president of the Rio Del Mar Parent Alliance.
PHOTO: Rio Del Mar Park was installed by county staff in 1993. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz