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John O'Green Park splash pad needs extra funding; council looks at in-house demo, timeline and grant possibilities
Summary
A proposed $95,000 budget modification for the John O'Green Park splash pad drew questions about cost overruns, demolition savings if public works performs site work, a roughly 2,700-square-foot pad design and environmental constraints on deeper excavation; councilors asked staff for a plan before recommending any approval.
Committee members on June 10 reviewed Budget Modification 26-4 to increase funding for a splash pad project at John O'Green Park after a shortfall in expected recreation-in-lieu revenue left the account below the project cost.
Staff said initial estimates had assumed certain revenue that did not materialize; the account reportedly holds about $45,000 while the current project cost is about $95,000. Committee members and public-works staff discussed ways to reduce costs, including having borough crews perform demolition and site work. One member suggested that performing demolition in-house could cut roughly 60% of the site-work cost while retaining specialist contractors for concrete, plumbing and electrical work.
The committee discussed construction details: the planned splash pad footprint was cited at approximately 2,700 square feet, and staff noted the concrete slab specification and rebar protection considerations for a wet installation. Members also discussed schedule implications — the vendor estimated 12–14 weeks for equipment delivery — and the desire to place the order this year to avoid future price increases.
Public commenters and council members raised park-history and environmental concerns. Speakers noted repeated repairs to John O'Green Park (several hundred thousand dollars in repairs and more than $1 million in cumulative park spending since 2020 were cited in public remarks) and said the property has soil contamination constraints. One councilor stated the borough cannot dig deeper than two feet at that site because of PCBs and arsenic in the soil, which limits deeper remediation options and helps explain repeated, incremental repairs instead of full excavation and replacement.
Next steps: The committee agreed to move the splash-pad item forward to the work session with no recommendation and asked Mr. Anderson and public-works staff to return with a short plan showing where in-house work could safely reduce costs and a timeline for ordering equipment and completing the project.
