Advisory committee approves new playground design for Bell Tower Green

Published 12:01 am Friday, April 14, 2023

SALISBURY — Going into the summer, families have been reaching out to the city of Salisbury to find out when the Bell Tower Green playground will be fully operational again.

In January, it was announced that Berliner, the company responsible for the park’s playground equipment, would devise a plan to address problems that were discovered last year.

On Tuesday, the Bell Tower Green Advisory Committee voted to approve the plan presented by Berliner that includes replacing the slide with a cargo net, reconfiguring the ring tunnel “into a whimsical, snakey art shape” and adding a third basket swing. The playground’s artificial turf will also be repaired.

The safety concerns that were brought up with the slide included temperature issues and that it was installed too deep. Reshaping the rings will reduce entrapment chances, but a rope connecting them all together will allow them to be closer than the 6-foot limit.

Committee president Bill Waggoner said Bell Tower Green Inc. and Berliner will need to meet with their warranty partner Looper and ForeverLawn, who installed the playground turf, to get them on board with the plan and integrate them into the process.

Even though there were discussions regarding other add-ons to the playground area, the committee decided that due to the time of year and budgetary concerns, this plan would be the quickest, easiest option that will fix the design flaws.

“I think it will be a relatively minimal cost to the city,” Parks and Recreation Director Nick Aceves said.

Since many different organizations still need to be included on the plan to go over the logistics of construction, the project has no firm timeframe for completion but it’s expected to be mid to late summer.