A 5,882-square-foot splash park may make its home at Seymour Lake Township Park next summer, should local service groups vote to endorse it.
A splash park is a special area at a park where pipes and other fun aquatic features spray, splash and mist water on children during the hot summer months.
Some of the apparatus, made by a company called Vortex, requires a button to be pushed for water to come out, others are on a timer.
Oxford Twp. Parks and Recreation Director, Ron Davis, said the late Virginia ‘Gini? Britton, President of Oxford Rotary, first approached him about doing a community project a few months ago. He said she was ‘sold? with the idea of a splash park.
Davis said the total cost for the project is $440,000 and that he’s in the process of securing a $240,000 grant from the Michigan Recreation and Park Association.
The Oxford Twp. Parks and Recreation Commission agreed to chip in $100,000 toward the project, while the other $100,000 could be raised by the Oxford Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary and private donors.
According to Davis, the grant would only cover the concrete, oval foundation of the park as well as the various apparatus, which include water cannons, ground geysers and buckets that dump water.
The rest of the funds would be used to create a parking lot, landscaping and other miscellanious items.
A well would also have to be constructed on the premises to filter the water being used.
Davis said the park would use about 328 gallons a minute, although it wouldn’t be a constant flow.
‘We’ll dump the water into the wetlands, so it’s almost serving two purposes,? he said. ‘To replenish the wetlands as well as provide a recreational opportunity.?
Assuming each of the community groups decides to endorse the splash park, Davis said their goal is to have it up and running by July 4, 2008, with a fireworks display for the Grand Opening.
Davis said he was always ‘determined? to get a splash park installed at the park, but with Gini’s untimely passing last week, he see’s it as a fitting tribute.
‘We have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us,? he said. ?(Gini) planted the seed, so all we gotta do is make it grow.?
If you’d like to contribute toward the splash park, please send donations to: Oxford Township Parks and Recreation Dept., 20 W. Burdick St., P.O. Box 170 Oxford, MI 48371.