Site of playground at Cape County Park North may be switched

A state-of-the-art playground designed with the needs of disabled children in mind may end up in a different location in Cape County Park North than originally planned.

Although groundbreaking on Melaina's Magical Playland was to be this past spring, several concerns with the proposed site near the park's entrance have caused the county's park board to look for an alternative, said Andrea Cunningham, executive director of Melaina Cunningham and Friends Park Fund Inc.

Cunningham's daughter, Melaina, died in 2009 due to complications from nemaline myopathy, a neuromuscular disorder. For the past two and a half years, Cunningham has worked to build the all-accessible playground.

Cunningham said plans for the playground include restrooms. However, engineers and contractors surveying the site discovered that adding the bathrooms to the sewer and septic system there would be costly.

Commissioner Jay Purcell said the site also lacks of space for parking and uses too much green space in that area of the park. As the county looked for another possible location, he said, one site stood out above the rest.

Contractors and engineers are now looking at an area on the west end of Cape County Park North where shelters No. 7 and 8 are. Although the shelters would need to be torn down if the site is chosen, Purcell said, the county already had plans to tear down and replace shelter No. 8. Both shelters, he said, are older and need maintenance.

The plans for Melaina's Magical Playland include two new shelters, so Purcell said using the site and partnering with the organization on the shelter could be a winning situation for both entities.

Cunningham said the playground being built is finally becoming more of a reality. The playground's total cost is estimated at $750,000, $150,000 of which is pledged by the county.

The organization needs a little over $100,000 to cover the cost, Cunningham said.

"We've had enough to get going, and we hope that once the building begins that will be momentum for people to want to help out so we can get the remainder," she said.

In the past few weeks, the playground equipment was ordered, and Cunningham said she expects a groundbreaking to happen before the end of the summer. She said spring 2012 would likely bring the playground's completion as long as construction wasn't delayed by bad weather.

"It's been a long time in the making, but it's finally coming together," she said. "There's lots of generous people out there, and we're very thankful."

The next event to raise funds for Melaina's Magical Playground will be a golf tournament benefit held at Kimbeland Country Club on Aug. 8.

There will also be a dinner auction hosted by the Cape West Rotary Club on Oct. 8.

eragan@semissourian.com

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