City council weighs future of closed Augusta park
Play Park Pointe has been fenced off and closed to the public. This fence was put up after the city council noticed the supports of the park were rotting away from termite damage.
Update: April 28, 2022, The city council started demolition of Play Park Pointe with no plans to rebuild it. (4/29/2022)
A fence surrounds Play Park Pointe, also known as Castle Park, after the park staff noticed the support beams were rotting away by termites and called in an inspector.
“I hate that they closed it. I really enjoyed being able to hang out there and play around on all the equipment,” sophomore Will Stueven said.
The inspector stated in his Playground Safety Inspection report from Play by Design that the support beams were too rotted, and the park, in its current state, was a number one priority hazard and should be demolished.
“I really hope they don’t demolish the park because I used to go to that park all the time with friends,” Stueven said.
The city council requested bids for both rebuilding the park with new materials or demolishing it. The bid for rebuilding the park came from Playgrounds by Leathers with the cost of $496,646.99 and the demolition bid from Alan’s Excavating Inc. with the cost of $4,450.00.
“I think they might just demolish it and build a new one,” sophomore Giselle Mestas said. “That’d be for the best. Plus, it would be nice to see what they make in place of it.”
Overall, the city council has not reached a final conclusion, but as of latest the motion for the park to be demolished has been stated.
“I imagine they won’t repair it, but rather, if people want to save it, they’ll rebuild it with more permanent materials,” freshman Devon Stamback said. “They built it around 2002 with a lifespan of 20 years, I don’t think it’s a bad decision to demolish it.”
Senior Justin Gwaltney is The Oriole Editor-in-Chief. This is Gwaltney’s second year leading the staff. He joined staff in the second semester of his...
