CHIMACUM — This playground, with its slide, swings, inclusive net climber, accessible merry-go-round, musical instruments and “Serenity Spot,” is for every child — and for every kid’s folks as well.
That’s the message from Sarah Grossman, board president of the Jefferson Universal Movement — JUMP — Playground, which has just taken a leap forward.
Construction is slated to begin later this spring at H.J. Carroll County Park, 9884 state Highway 19, now that the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners has awarded a $756,385.50 contract to Interwest Construction of Burlington.
A portion of the funding for the project is provided by a $500,000 state Recreation and Conservation Office grant awarded in 2020.
Some $300,000 has come in the form of community contributions, detailed at jumpplayground.org.
A little more than a month ago, the outlook for the JUMP Playground was not looking so good.
The county opened bids for the project Feb. 16; on March 14, only one had come in. Interwest Construction submitted a bid of $953,875, exceeding the engineer’s $610,836 estimate by more than 50 percent.
The county Public Works Department put off awarding the contract to seek cost-saving options, and on Monday the commissioners approved a revised playground plan.
“We’ve eliminated a few items. The biggest thing is we’ve eliminated the whole south play structure,” Grossman said in an interview Tuesday.
“We’ll have the swing set, but we won’t have the big, ramped play area. They’re talking about putting grass in that area,” she added.
“Most of it will be done,” except one of the play structures and some of the tables and benches, Grossman said, although more of those could be added in a future phase.
The JUMP Playground will include a number of firsts for the region, said Grossman, who saw the need for an all-access playground while working with young students as a physical therapist in the Chimacum School District.
These include the GT Wave, a net climber any child can play on; the inclusive merry-go-round with custom artwork donated by Rebecca Welti; a plankton climbing structure and a large kaleidoscope.
Welti has been working with local schoolchildren on plankton tiles, Grossman added, that will be embedded in the playground’s concrete surfaces.
The place also will have a small rock-climbing area in honor of the late climber Mike Beery, as well as the Serenity Spot, a piece of equipment friendly to children who are on the autism spectrum or who have sensory processing disorders.
“Phase one is going to be pretty darn cool,” Grossman said.
The playground will have fully accessible pathways and turf so people of any age using wheelchairs or walkers can roam around.
In response to parents’ input, she said, the place will have a central seating area and a fence all the way around the perimeter, “so people can really relax,” and not worry about their youngsters running off across H.J. Carroll Park’s 40 acres.
Playground planners — who have been working on this project since 2016 — hope for a construction schedule that will finish the project around the end of summer.
Grossman said she will receive a timeline from Interwest Construction soon. She’ll also confer with the county Public Works department on the schedule and update the jumpplayground.org website.
The project includes a supervised community build, she added.
After the site is prepared, concrete footings in and gear delivered, a construction supervisor will work with volunteers to install the structures.
“All of the equipment has been ordered,” Grossman said, “so it’s happening.”
________
Jefferson County Senior Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
