Residents press Brighton board for timeline on removed library playground; town cites construction and public‑input plan

At the July 8 meeting the board received and the clerk read a letter from local residents requesting transparency about the removal of a playground identified in the letter as the 'Breton Memorial Library' playground and asking for a firm timeline for replacement.

Chaya Citrin read the letter and asked three specific items: the current status of playground equipment and construction contracts; an exact explanation for the project delays and why the old playground was removed before a replacement was in place; and a finalized timeline for when the new playground would be open to the public.

Supervisor Bill Maly acknowledged the residents' frustration and said the playground removal was driven in part by active construction on the town‑hall campus and by an urgent need to address a failing HVAC system. He said La Bella engineers are under contract to handle design work and community input for the playground, a renovated pool and a splash pad, and that the town has received grant funding for the splash pad (attributed in the meeting to Sen. Cooney) and for pool work (attributed to Assembly member Sarah Clark).

Maly said the town intends to stage community input sessions (more than a single forum), to make the facilities accessible to all users, and to work to set dates for public engagement as soon as practicable. He also said the contractor had only recently mobilized on site and that areas would be fenced as needed during construction; he did not provide a final construction completion date at the meeting.

Residents at the meeting pressed for clearer timelines and asked why portions of the construction area were not yet fenced off; the supervisor reiterated that safety and staged construction were factors in the decision to remove the old playground before installing new equipment but committed to follow‑up outreach.