Legacy Playground [1]is the name of a proposed universally accessible playground in the Greater Nashua,New Hampshire area.
The organizers are alumni of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce's[3] Legacy Greater Nashua class of 2012.[4]
Planning began in April, 2012 and fundraising in June. To date organizers have raised almost $130,000.00 of their $250,000.00[5] goal and hope to complete the project in the summer of 2014. Greater Nashua United Way[6] is serving as fund collection agency. Since Spring, 2013 fundraising has slowed while organizers, Nashua city government and stakeholders discuss potential sites in Nashua.
To obtain information on potential user needs the Legacy Playground organizers collected information from special educators, parents of disabled children, senior citizens, state and local human service agencies, veterans groups, Nashua Parks and Recreation Department and other stakeholders. They distributed a survey [7] and received several hundred responses. Using this information they established criteria for evaluating 55 potential sites in Nashua. Based on this evaluation organizers determined Greeley Park was the best location in Nashua.
While community members have raised concerns over the playground site there is overwhelming support for accepting the organizers gift and siting the playground somewhere in Nashua. At one public meeting a member of the Nashua Board of Education said,
Another speaker at the same meeting said,
This writer illustrates the concerns of some Nashua residents. They support the playground project but have grave reservations about the siting process. They are concerned that the Mayor and project organizers selected Greeley Park and then developed evaluative criteria to support this selection.
In March, 2013 the Nashua Board of Public Works began discussing Legacy Playground. In succeeding meetings, with input from organizers, City administration, the Department of Parks and Recreation, Greeley Park neighbors and other citizen stakeholders the Board debated potential locations, playground size and proposed structures and amenities. After a four hour public meeting on December 2, 2013 attended by several hundred citizens and after hearing extensive public testimony, The Board voted 4 to 1 to recommend Greeley Park as the playground site.
On January 14, 2014 Alderman At Large Diane Sheehan submitted a resolution to the Board of Aldermen recommending Greeley Park as the site for the Legacy Playground. Her resolution was co-sponsored by six of her colleagues.[12]
The Resolution proposes the West side of Greeley Park, behind the stone house, as the site of Legacy Playground. It restricts the playground to 12,000 square feet, prohibits the removal of any mature, healthy tree and requires removal of old, existing playground from another site and restoration of the old site as a passive recreation area. [13]
The Resolution was referred to the Committee on Infrastructure chaired by Alderman At Large James Donchess[14] On February 3, 2014 Alderman Donchess chaired an informal meeting between Greeley Playground organizers and interested city residents to discuss issues of concern around siting. At the meeting Alderman Donchess offered to request city funding for an independent evaluation of several sites by a professional consultant. Organizers agreed to support a professional evaluation of 4 possible sites for the Legacy Playground. Three are in Greeley Park and one is at Lincoln Park. [15]
In her State of the City address on February 13, 2013 Mayor Louzu announced that a group local citizens was raising funds to replace the existing playground at Greeley Park with a universally accessable playground. [16] This was the first formal notice that the city and Legacy Playground organizers were working together.
Project organizers made their first presentation to the City at the Nashua Board of Public Works (BPW) meeting on March 14, 2013. The presentation was for informational purposes only. The discussion focused on Greeley Park as the playground site. Commissioner Lavoie moved that the Board make a positive recommendation on the playground at Greeley Park to the Board of Aldermen. The motion passed 4 to 1. The last sentence of the meeting minutes reflect, "Mayor Lozeau requested the consensus of the Board before moving forward." [17],(see pages 6 & 7).
The Board of Public Works discussed siting options for the playground at their July 23, 2013 meeting. The minutes reflect that while there was support for Greeley Park the Board felt other sites should be considered. One member was concerned that Greeley Park had already been overdeveloped. No siting decision was made and, "The Mayor said we would spend some time looking at the alternatives and would get back to the group again next month".[18] (see pages 3 & 4). The minutes of the August, 2013 meeting do not mention discussion of Legacy Playground.[19]
The Board next discussed the playground on 9/19/13 in a lengthy and sometimes spirited meeting. Several members of the public, several Aldermen and at least one Board member opined that Greeley Park was not an appropriate site for Legacy Playground for these and other reasons:
Several park organizers spoke to some of these concerns. At discussion's end the Mayor said she would set-up a future Board meeting in a larger space to resume the discussion.[20] (see pages 1 to 47).