ZEELAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Construction has begun on an accessibility-focused playground at Drenthe Grove Park in Zeeland Township.
WATCH: Zeeland Township breaks ground on ADA-focused playground at Drenthe Grove Park
On Tuesday, Zeeland Township approved a $219,807 playground designed to be more ADA-friendly at the 20-acre park located at 615 68th Avenue. The township secured nearly $50,000 in grant funding to help offset the cost, which is incorporated into the total project price.
The park already features several courts — including pickleball, tennis, and basketball — a ball field, and no stairways throughout. Zeeland Township Supervisor Kerri Bosma said the project has been a long time coming.
"One of the pieces that I'm really excited about with this is, our current master plan discussed having a playground accessible for all," Bosma said. "Drenthe Grove has zero step. The bathrooms, through the the whole parking lot, all of the trails, there's zero step. So it's lined up to be an ADA compliant, more friendly for mobility."
Community demand has driven the effort, according to Bosma
"We've had requests continuously in my tenure of being on the board here of having more ADA compliant playground," Bosma said. "This is something for us to to begin our venture into having a fully ADA compliant playground in the future."
Bosma said the choice of surfacing on the playground was deliberate.
"Trying to make this accessible, we've got the poured rubber in place here, we've got a Tilt-A-Whirl," Bosma said. "We've got some other accessible playground equipment, because one of the worst things for families when they think a playground's accessible is when they get there and they see bark."
The Tilt-A-Whirl is designed to accommodate wheelchair users and encourage inclusive play.
"You can wheel somebody in on a wheelchair, they can wheel themselves up, there's zero step there, and then also, it's a way to be able to play together. You can have siblings playing together on the same playground," Bosma said.
Bosma said sidewalks are already in place, and the timeline is on track.
"As long as Mother Nature works with us, we will have this playground installed yet this year," Bosma said.
The playground's location was also chosen to address a visibility concern raised by park visitors.
"We've had an ask to have a playground on the other side of the pickleball courts. So when people are at the park, the park is many acres, and so to let their children go run and play on the other main equipment, they couldn't see them," Bosma said. "This is a win-win to provide an accessible play place and having a park, a playground that more people can see when they're leveraging the walking paths and such."
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