New inclusive playground equipment for Barbara Smoyer Memorial Park will soon be on its way.
The Princeton Council awarded a contract for $178,626 to Ben Shaffer Recreation to replace the playground equipment at the park, off Snowden Lane near Herrontown Road.
The new playground equipment will be similar to the inclusive playground equipment installed at Hilltop Park in 2023. Hilltop Park is on Bunn Drive.
Inclusive playground equipment is designed to appeal to – and to be used by – children with different abilities, ages and interests.
A second contract for $69,218 also was awarded to Ben Shaffer Recreation to replace the wood mulch surfacing under the playground equipment with poured-in-place rubber surfacing.
Funding for the playground equipment and rubber surfacing has been made available through the Mercer at Play matching grant and a grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
The contracts include the removal of the existing playground equipment and the wood mulch surface underneath it.
The existing playground equipment was installed in 2001 when the park first opened. The equipment is nearing the end of its functional life span, according to Evan Moorhead, the executive director of the Princeton Recreation Department.
The 38-acre Barbara Smoyer Memorial Park was named for the long-time Princeton resident who died in 1996. She was the first woman to serve on the former Princeton Township Committee. She served from 1972 to 1975. She also served on many nonprofit boards.
