Community Leaders Break Ground On $2.75 Million Dome Playground Renovation
Goodbye stage, boulders, muck, and the rectangular sidewalk that framed the lawn where kids rode their bikes. Hello brand new Dome Playground.
Thanks to the $2.75 million bundle Councilman Brad Lander put together to fund Dome Playground’s Phase I renovation, where officials broke ground on Thursday, April 23, there will be a long list of improvements at the playground, located at 38th Street and Dahill Road,. A year from now, you can expect to see a landscaped central ellipse with arena seating, three separate play areas—for tots, 2–5 year olds, and 5–12 year olds; two areas for swings: one bucket, one regular; the latest in play equipment; and a water-play area with sprinklers. The central lawn will have new plantings and seats where neighbors can chat or hold events.
Furthermore, the Parks Department will improve the drainage, install new lighting, benches, drinking fountains, and pavement during the Dome renovation. The final result will double the Dome play area, Lander pointed out at Thursday’s groundbreaking.
“The design is great,” he said. “It’ll feel like a bigger place.”
Under new guidelines set by Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, NYC Parks is going to finish its construction projects faster and faster. At Dome, Parks is saying the renovation will be ready for use by next spring, 2016.
Total funding for the Phase I renovation included generous allocations of $1.8 million from Lander and $950,000 from Brooklyn Borough Presidents Marty Markowitz and Eric Adams. For the next year, while the lawn and tot area are under construction, Parks recommends walking to Di Giglio Playground at Avenue F and McDonald Avenue, or PS 230’s Albemarle Playground at Dahill Road and Albemarle Road.
Lander has also allocated another $1 million dollars so Parks can renovate Dome’s long-neglected handball and basketball courts. That project, Phase II, is currently in the planning stage. Parks designers should have plans to show the public within the next six months. Lander said Parks should have the courts and exercise area renovated by fall of 2017.
Thursday’s groundbreaking marked the culmination of a lengthy planning process involving neighbors from Kensington and Borough Park, who first proposed ideas for the green space’s redesign at a well-attended Parks workshop held back in February, 2011. Finally, 10 days before the groundbreaking, work began at the playground.
It was a blustery spring day last Thursday, a perfect day to celebrate the park and the hard work of those who labored years on this project at the Parks Department, Lander’s office, and CB 12, many of those who spoke at the ceremony said.
“It’s a beautiful day in Dome playground,” Lander began his remarks. “[I’m] thrilled that we are celebrating and the ground is being broken.”
“This park has become a symbol of how much work people do, how much time they put into these projects — but Parks needs to make this process faster,” Lander continued.
Remembering the project’s beginning four years ago, he explained how the first listening session had happened early in his tenure.
“People in Boro Park asked, ‘Where’s the park?’ And in Kensington they asked, ‘Where’s the green?'” Lander said. “The community was very engaged in this project. People had a lot of different points of view. There were Italian, Irish, Mexican, African-American, Latinas, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Russians, and Orthodox Jews…. many people who love the park and have different ideas. Nonetheless, there was agreement to increase the children’s play area and keep the much-loved courts.”
Among those Lander thanked were Brooklyn Parks Chief of Staff Martin Maher who worked with him on this project from the start; Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey for his leadership; and Community Board 12 Chair Yidel Perlstein and CB 12 District Manager Barry Spitzer, both of whom partnered with Lander’s office to get this project done. The thanks were effusive and extended to Annie Ferdous and Mamnunul Huq, Kensington representatives to CB 12, and to this reporter for their help in organizing community members to take part in the planning process.
The community board deals with little things to make people’s lives a little better, Spitzer said. “We’re lucky to have Brad Lander as a partner. He’s someone who feels the same way. He devotes his time and energy and resources to helping the community.”
The audience consisted mainly of Parks people, Lander’s staff, and reporters. Still, four neighbors — Aurohom Wolfson, John Kosbe, Andrew Ellis and J. Hoque — all regular Dome Playground users, dropped by the event to see what the hubbub was about.
Located at the northeast corner of 38th Street and Dahill Road, Dome Playground is named for community activists Charles (1904-1984) and Jessie Dome (1904-1987), longtime residents of Borough Park who devoted themselves to improving their community.
