Make Way For A New Playground At Fairmont Park

A splash pad, swing set, and children’s play area are en route to Fairmont Park, thanks to playground upgrade plans for the Fair Haven Heights greenspace.

Parks commissioners voted in support of those plans Wednesday night during the latest monthly meeting of the Board of Park Commissioners at 720 Edgewood Ave.

The vote followed a presentation by city Chief Landscape Architect Katherine Jacobs about the city’s plan to give Fairmont Park, located in Fair Haven Heights on Quinnipiac Avenue, a facelift and a new play area for kids. 

“The neighborhood has requested a play area in this park,” Jacobs said. ​“There’s a lot of children in the area that would benefit from a public playground as well.”

The new park will be located in the upper part of the park, uphill from baseball fields that the city renovated last year. 

With the new park, residents will have access to a splash pad, swing set and play area. 

Parks commission member Harvey Feinberg asked Jacobs how the city came to the decision to build the play area as part of the park. 

Jacobs told him that the community had asked for the park over the last year, and the city believes that it would help kids in the area have a small place to play. Residents were given the option to have a larger play area without a splash pool or a smaller slide and play set with a splash pool. They chose to have the splash pool as well. 

Chair David Belowsky asked Jacobs about how the city planned on maintaining the splash pool in the winter. According to Jacobs, the splash pad is small enough that it will not require an electrical connection. Instead, it will use a mechanical controller like a beach shower or faucet where kids can hit a button and water will come out for a set period of time before it shuts off. This helps keep the costs of the splashpad and its maintenance down. 

Fairmont Park has an active friends groups that has also requested that the water that runs off from the splash pool be diverted to a rain garden rather than being sent into the sewer. The pad, like other water installations across the city, will be closed during the winter. The new play area will also be fenced into to protect kids and prevent trespassers using a decorative fence similar to that used in other play areas in New Haven. 

Commissioners also asked Jacobs why the specific area for the play area was chosen, and she told them that the city was trying to not cut down any trees and also have the park be visible to the neighborhood to invite kids to come and play. 

Funding for the project comes from a state grant of roughly $100,000. The city expects the cost to slightly exceed the grant funding, and they plan on using American Rescue Plan Act funding, which is expiring soon, to cover the remaining costs. 

As part of the Fairmont Park upgrades, the city will also be replacing an existing asphalt path going along the street that is ​“falling apart,” according to Jacobs. Part of the plan will include replacing the road and also upgrading the sidewalks to meet current standards.