Play Grounds

Started by PauG • 6 replies • 1469 views

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PauG (Maryland)
Posts: 53

Posted:

Our HOA has no real amenities. We have no pool, no tennis courts, no club house, no play grounds. We have some common areas where we could put up small play grounds for the kids, but past board members have shot this down. With a new board, we are reconsidering this. We have a heart for our neighborhood and would like to improve it.

Any advice on play grounds?
Any advice on improving our neighborhood, giving our HOA more ammenities? We don't have room or the funds for a pool or tennis courts, or club house. The Board has discussed having the small play grounds include benches for parents and care givers to sit and watch the kids.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Pau, that sounds like a nice idea but make sure to talk to the Associations lawyer and insurance carrier to minimize the HOA's exposure for any injuries. From other posts here in the past, these type of areas seem to become Mecca's for older kids (not necessarily from the HOA) to hang around at, especially at night. Also remember that kids have a disturbing habit of growing up, and if you gear the play area for the kids that live there now and don't provide anything for them as they age they probably will tend to keep playing there, displacing young kids.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

JohnK3 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 967

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By PauG on 12/26/2008 11:05 AM
Our HOA has no real amenities. We have no pool, no tennis courts, no club house, no play grounds. We have some common areas where we could put up small play grounds for the kids, but past board members have shot this down. With a new board, we are reconsidering this. We have a heart for our neighborhood and would like to improve it.

Any advice on play grounds?
Any advice on improving our neighborhood, giving our HOA more ammenities? We don't have room or the funds for a pool or tennis courts, or club house. The Board has discussed having the small play grounds include benches for parents and care givers to sit and watch the kids.

I'll guess your HOA is condos/townhomes, not SFDs.

Consider:
1. Cost to install.
2. Making sure it would be covered by your insurance.

Then ask:
3. Would it be used? Have any owners (many or few) expressed interest?
4. Are you willing to maintain it, esp. as to keeping it cleaned up?
5. Would it attract users not interested in the "kids playground" aspects, esp. users outside of your HOA? If so, how would you police it?

AnnaD2 (Florida)
Posts: 960

Posted:

Our condo association also has no amenities for children. No play area; and the association is under no obligation to provide any. We have a huge retention area behind one building that the kids here decided to make it their own little playground....with no permission from the board or the association. The area was starting to deteriorate and we requested to the parents to not let them play there. We were bombarded by the parents, saying the kids have a RIGHT to play there and we were just mean.

We did our homework and found out this area (while common area for the association) is part of the water plan for our district. It must be maintained for certain specifications; width, steepness of "banks"; etc. We got our documents together which spell out this area could not be used for anything other than their original use, got our attorney and our insurance company involved and proved to everyone this area was off-limits.

One month later, in the county just north of here, a homeowners association had the exact same situation. A photo of the area looked exactly like our back yard. They said it was the "unofficial playground" for the association children. The kids in that association had dug holes in the "banks" of the retention area. A 12 year old girl stuck her head in the hole while some other kids were walking over it. It collapsed and she died. A horrible, horrible loss for everyone; and could have been prevented.

Now the parents of that little girl are suing the association and the property manager for "allowing" kids to play back there.

Just another example of knowing all the facts before going forward with such a project. Perhaps your old board know more about this area than they're willing to share?

KirkW1 (Texas)
Posts: 1,665

Posted:

Certainly you will need to make sure your playground is covered under the association policy. But that should not scare you from the decision. Plenty of HOA's have them and do just fine.

Some things that come to mind though:

If you want to turn this over to the city then talk to the city before starting.

Involve the association in the planning.

If this is a SFD development check with the owners next to it. Some would welcome it, others would not.

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Paul - go for it. Here's a site that can tell you how to construct a safe, all-age playground.

http://www.uni.edu/playground/

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Paul,

My HOA is comprised of 21 subdivisions with 12 parks scattered throughout. Six of the parks have playgrounds. Other amenities in the parks include: benches, basketball goals, grassy areas, ramada, volleyball court, pet friendly waste receptable (at all parks), trash receptacle (at all parks), lights until 10 PM.

Parks and playgrounds are a very nice feature in any community. In fact, the city where I live requires a certain number for each new s/d being built. I would strongly suggest surveying the neighborhood to find out exactly what the members would like. They may prefer a park with a ramada and a few benches as opposed to a playground.

Another thing to keep in mind is that playground equipment is very costly. Maintenance means cleaning and sanitizing the equipmennt on a regular basis adding another cost.

I would not recommend a water fountain or a sandbox. My former assn had both in the tot lot. The sandbox means sand scattered throughout the grass and concrete areas and a constant cleaning of the sand (you know how cats like sand!!). The water fountain had to be turned off because the kids continually filled it up with sand!

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