Project Update

Many of you have been wondering what is going on with the playground.  Well, we have had months of behind the scenes work and a lot of administrative "stuff" to work through.  So we wanted to give you a bit of an update.

Playground Project Board:

David Bridenhagen - Principal at James D. Doty Elementary School
Chad Maes - Project Co-Coordinator
Kim Maes - Project Co-Coordinator
Belén Raymond - PTO President
Megan Poehlman - PTO and Project Secretary 
Nancy Windingstad - PTO and Project Treasurer

Firstly, there needed to be an update to our playground cost.  The design plan that the PTO had agreed upon previously laid out costs for materials only.  It did not take into account contractor equipment or labor charges into the estimated design cost.  Because of that, and to be as transparent as possible to our Doty Families and supporters, our playground cost estimate was increased from $130,000 to $210,000.  

*Please note:  This estimate is essentially the MSRP price of the playground.  If we had $210,000 right now, we could hire a full contractor crew, purchase everything, and finish the project in about 8 weeks.  It would mean buying every item on the playground construction list, including dirt, lumber, trees, etc.  Any donated time, equipment, and materials from local suppliers could drastically lower the cost of the completed project.  However, we felt we needed to give Doty families and supporters a more accurate cost of the project without taking into account in kind donations.

Our board had initially hoped for a June 2013 date to break ground and begin construction of the hills for our playground.  This would be "Phase One" of the overall project goal and would have been a major donation of time and expense by several local supporters.  We had planned for all of the grading and hills to be finished, along with all grass seed, so that our students would have had beautiful hills to play on come fall and to slide on come winter.  

One week before construction was to begin, we learned that the project would need to be halted.  The Village of Allouez was requiring a Storm and Waste Water Management Plan before they would give the go ahead for the project.  This was to safeguard concerns from both the Village of Allouez and the Green Bay Public Schools due to previous flooding issues with neighboring homes in the surrounding area.  

After an emergency meeting with all parties, we decided to seek a proposal from the McMahon Group out of Neenah, a firm that the Village of Allouez uses, and ultimately trusts, so that our project would get the green light to proceed.  Over the next month, discussions took place between us and McMahon and a proposal was sent for the scope of work needed to satisfy the Village of Allouez.  

Due to the successful fundraising efforts in the spring, we had enough in our Doty School Playground Bank Account to cover the $4500 proposal cost.  We made a decision shortly before school was set to begin in September to go ahead and sign the contract with McMahon.  

This brings our Doty School Playground Bank Account down to less than a few thousand dollars.  The delay and stoppage of "Phase One" also meant that we lost material, time, and equipment donations from contractor supporters in the area, which were ultimately tens of thousands shaved off of our project estimate.  Hopefully, with the support of the community and the Race for a Playground event on Oct. 18th, we'll be able to build back up our fund and truly proceed in making this design a reality for Doty School.

Help sponsor your student in the "Race for a Playground!"

Our 2nd Annual Race for a Playground will be held on Oct. 18th.  Students will help raise money to go toward our project by walking and running over a one mile designated area outside of Doty Elementary.  Students will have sponsors for the race who will either offer one time pledges or a per mile pledge.  

Our school goal is that each student have a minimum of one sponsor for the event!  You can sponsor your student today at GoFundMe.com.

Thank you for visiting our project website!

You can now make an online donation to our Natural Playground Project through GoFundMe.com!  

Thank you to everyone who helped make our first ever Race for a Playground a success!  Please keep track with us during our fundraising on GoFundMe.com and please share the link with anyone you think will help.

If this is your first visit, we want you to understand a bit about the company we chose to help us design our Playground.  Bienenstock Design and Consulting, Inc. is a Canadian company that had experience in Natural Playground designs and who had familiarity with colder climates.  They understood the unique challenges a Wisconsin winter could bring!  We had several video conferences with them as well as an in person visit from their CEO, Adam Bienenstock.  This slideshow presentation gives you an idea of what we talked about and discussed prior to our decision to work with their company.

Natural Playground Plans

View of seating around trees, all weather music drums for the hearing impaired, and one of the hill slides.

Overview of playground.  The four light colored trees on far left are existing.  All other trees will be added.

Aerial view of blacktop in relation to playground

Another aerial view that shows the topography change and view from neighboring homes.

Playground showing relationship between Rock Boulders/Spiderweb Climber to the far hill.

Stumps and logs will be near front path.  Lots of trees for shade and relaxed play.

Good view of valley between hill slide and tunnel.  Bridge over tunnel is a destination point as well.

Far right of design showing tunnel top as well as extra tables/seating area.

Shed will contain all teacher materials necessary for an outdoor classroom.  (Rolling white board, etc.)  There will be seating for 30 children outside at the tables so classroom work may be done. 

Nice view of extra boulders/stones to climb/sit on and view of winding paths throughout design.

View of the Amphitheater that will be graded down behind the first hill slide.  Outdoor classroom potential as well as imaginative play for the children and seating for adults after school.

Additional seating around tree and graded sand pit area at the far left of design to minimize sand exposure in the school.

Entrance to playground.  Upside down tree as well as a fence border that will be able to be climbed on and used as play. 

View of tunnel for the children.

Close up view of Spiderweb Climber/boulders.