FILE PHOTO
Children enjoying a public splash pad in Lexington, N.C.
ANSONIA — City officials are scheduled to learn on Friday precisely how much a refurbished play area and splash pad at Nolan Field will cost, according to statements made at an Aldermen meeting Tuesday (Nov. 10).
The city is planning to build a firefighter-themed splash pad as part of a series of improvements to the Nolan Field playground, tennis, and basketball courts.
The projects/ job contracts still need to be officially approved by the Board of Aldermen before moving forward.
In terms of planning, the splash pad issue went from zero to 60 mph between August and October.
Responding in August to a Valley Indy Facebook post calling for a splash pad somewhere in the lower Valley (it was a particularly sweltering slow news day, but the post went Valley viral), Cassetti told the Indy that he had, in fact, been looking for a suitable splash pad location for a few years.
A rendering of the splash pad shared on social media by the City of Ansonia.
At the time, Cassetti said that although he asked City Hall staffers to research the issue, he didn’t see a splash pad as a possibility at least for a few years because of other priorities in the city.
Three weeks later, the Cassetti administration posted a cheeky video to the City of Ansonia Facebook page with two Aldermen up for re-election dressed in swimming trunks, hinting that a splash pad was coming, which prompted The Valley Indy to ask candidates for public office whether the splash pad was being pushed because an election loomed.
The splash pad issue was also used in Ansonia GOP re-election posts on social media.
Behind the scenes throughout October, city staff worked on the splash pad idea with DiCarlo & Doll, its on-call engineering firm; Fred D’Amico, the city engineer; VHB, a specialized planning and engineering firm based in Wethersfield, and; landscape architects Tate & Associates out of Fairfield.
The city hired Tate, and signed an agreement with the firm Oct. 5 to design the new splash pad, along with other improvements slated for Nolan. O’Malley said the firm will be paid $3,000 for its design work, with the money coming from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act, which allows municipalities to use for recreational improvements.
“We had the engineers look at Nolan, Linnett Park and Colony Park,” Cassetti said. “Nolan has the most access to drainage, access to water and is a just a lot easier than putting a splash pad in at Linnett or Colony. There are restrooms already in place, too.”
O’Malley said Nolan Field also has more space, and is “centrally located,” making it an ideal place to house a splash pad.
The splash pad project will be coordinated with improvements to the basketball and tennis courts and the playscape at Nolan Field, O’Malley said. Cassetti said the splash pad could cost between $100,000-$125,000.
In total, he said the city will set aside about $300,000 to cover the splash pad and renovations to the basketball and tennis courts and playscape. Cassetti said the city will use money from the $2.7 million federal ARP relief aid Ansonia received to fund the project.
The cost estimates should be much clearer come Friday, when the Cassetti administration receives updated info. Additional contracts will then go to the Aldermen, Kurt Miller, the city’s chief financial officer, said.
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A political post promoting the splash pad was posted during the campaign to the Ansonia GOP Facebook page.
