Covering Forest Hills, Van Ness, North Cleveland Park and Wakefield

See Forest Hills Playground’s New Design, 9/12

Climbing rock at the Palisades playground.

Climbing rock at the Palisades playground.

Newly renovated playgrounds are popping up all around us – the Macomb playground reopened recently, and Mayor Gray cut the ribbon on the new Palisades playground on July 4th. Soon, it’ll be the Forest Hills Playground’s turn, and the planners are giving the community a chance to view the plans and weigh in, either online, in person, or both.

In person: On Thursday, September 12th from 6:30-7:30 p.m., the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) will hold a community meeting at the Capital Memorial Church Fellowship Hall, at 3150 Chesapeake Street, NW (next door to park).

Online: View a PDF of the plans (7 MB PDF download), and provide feedback here: surveymonkey.com/s/foresthillsplaydc. DPR will collect comments made prior to the September 12th meeting and include them in the presentation. It will continue collecting comments until Thursday, September 19th.

DPR gave a preview of this design to Virginia Adams Marentette, who represented Friends of the Forest Hills Playground, ANC Commissioner Sally Gresham, and Marlene Berlin, who headed the previous Forest Hills Playground renovation. They raised four main concerns:

Adult fitness equipment at the Palisades playground.

Adult fitness equipment at the Palisades playground.

  • The need for physically challenging equipment for older children
  • The aesthetics of the equipment
  • The need for an “entrance” to the park on Brandywine Street
  • The removal of outdoor exercise equipment for adults from the design

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    It is important that residents of all ages provide feedback at the meeting and online, for this should be a playground for all ages. This will ensure that we all get to enjoy it for many years to come.

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    Comments

    1. In addition to playground equipment issues, concepts up for discussion propose environmental improvements. Are they adequate? Two rain gardens on DPR’s side of Brandywine Street could reduce harmful storm run offs from the tennis court which damage Soapstone Valley. But they miss this opportunity to also catch run offs from that Street itself — overlooking it seems a 2010 “High” priority recommendation by the Distrct Department of the Environment (DDOE). And why should DPR lay down IMPERVIOUS asphalt and concrete? DDOE recommended removal of impervious asphalt in this Playgound. Mayor Gray set bold Sustainable DC goals, City-wide, for removal of impervious surfaces. Should DPR march in the opposite direction?

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