Tot Lot Expected To Break Ground In July

By Kelly Garrison
Features Editor

Work to enhance a several decades-old playground in Belmont Shore is on the verge of getting underway.

After about a year of planning and fundraising, the Tot Lot Committee (TLC) has planned a groundbreaking ceremony on July 12 for its proposed renovation of the Livingston Park Tot Lot. The project will enhance the appearance, safety and accessibility of the playground with new landscaping and equipment, TLC Chair Mike DuRee said.

“It’s going to be a wonderful little centerpiece in the neighborhood and a focal point for the community,” he said. “It’s be bigger, so it will accommodate more people, and the play equipment is as good as it gets.”

Committee members say the park needs aesthetic and equipment upgrades as well as protection for youth from oncoming traffic. A fence will encircle the playground, which will double in size and include three sections for different age groups, from toddlers to 12-year-olds. Additional plans include a Spanish-style arched entrance to the park at the corner of Park Avenue and Livingston Drive.

Legacy plaques on several panels will honor donors who have made significant contributions to the renovation. Other features will include stroller parking, benches, picnic tables and a concrete path.

Half of the $300,000 project will be paid for with donations, while the other half will come from city capital improvement money. The most recent major show of community support in the eight-month campaign for the Tot Lot Committee’s (TLC) project came from a fundraiser in January at Legends Sports Bar.

“Once we get a shovel in the ground, it’ll take about three weeks to complete,” DuRee said. “I think it went a lot faster than anyone thought it could with respect to fundraising.”

The playground was built in the 1970s and rebuilt around 1991. Private donations, with matching money from the city, paid for its construction. Fundraisers for the current project have included a kickoff celebration, a beach party, T-shirt sales and a celebrity bartender event at Legends.

The committee met on Monday to solidify the details of the project with Dennis Eschen, Parks planning and building superintendent. The groundbreaking ceremony will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 12, in the park

For more information about TLC or the tot lot project, visit www.totlotcommittee.org.