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Playground Area Set Aside For Toddlers At Ballast Point

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

Published: September 4, 2008

TAMPA - Parents and residents are teaming up to raise money for a toddler playground at Ballast Point Park.

The city spent about $400,000 for park improvements completed in 2006. Improvements included a space-travel-themed playground. In May, the Tampa City Council approved $600,000 in additional improvements, including an interactive water feature.

The city is set this month to begin a $1 million renovation to the pier, and landscape architect Karla Price said the final phase of park improvements should start in the spring.

The park master plan, created by city staff and residents in 2001, did not include a separate playground for toddlers. Katie Guice approached the city in June with the request for one.

"There are large holes, gaps in the playground equipment where the kids could fall," said Guice, who has a 22-month-old son. "You see a lot of parents on the equipment watching after their kids."

The city agreed to reallocate $5,000 from the park budget to do site preparation for the toddler playground. Residents are starting to raise the additional $21,000 needed by January, beginning with a dinner Sept. 21.

The plan calls for a 30-foot-by-30-foot toddler playground to be built northwest of the current playground. It would include play equipment, a climbing wall, a canopy and child-size picnic tables.

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