The Project Playground Steering Committee has a clean slate for its new project.
The cleanup process of the Twin Lakes Playground (also referred to as Project Playground), which was burned down April 24, is finished. The committee expects to start designing the new playground in August, committee chair Mike Goldstein said.
“In August, we should be finalizing the contract with who the designer is and then we’ll work on design through early fall,” Goldstein said in a release. “That will let us know what our true fundraising goals are. We’ll be continuing to fundraise throughout this period because we do estimate that it will cost more than what we have raised to date.”
The city’s insurance company paid for the cleanup process and will pay for much of the rebuild, but the community is raising money in order to make changes to the design (expanding the playground or using different materials). So far, the Juneau Community Foundation has raised $162,000.
City and Borough of Juneau Project Manager Nathan Coffee said the cleanup went smoothly, and that he doesn’t believe the soil is contaminated. The city is running a soil test just to make sure, and will then plant grass on the site if it is declared safe. When grass begins to grow, the city will remove the fence that currently stands around the area and will allow people to walk around the area.
