Playground will be dismantled Saturday to make room for new park

If it were up to Wilson Elementary School Principal Gerry Kosanovic, a replacement for Wildcat Park, which also served as an extension of the school’s playground, would have been ready for the first day of school.

“Realistically, it’s looking more like a year from now,” said Kosanovic, a member of a steering committee to rebuild the cherished community play structure on Satinwood Avenue in north Corvallis.

But there is progress to report nine months after city and school officials unexpectedly closed the wooden structure for safety reasons.

Soon a campaign to raise $200,000 to pay for a replacement park will be launched. The Corvallis School District is working with the steering committee to put out a request for proposals for playground manufacturers to bid on. And there’s a new Web site the group is using to communicate information, including how to become involved.

Organizers are hoping to replicate the community process behind the 1989 project that put Wildcat on the map as the largest single-structure playground in Benton County. It featured slides, swings, tunnels, bridges, mazes, towers, tire nets and other structures “limited only by a child’s imagination.”

“It was the crown jewel of playgrounds in the state,” Kosanovic said.

As a joint venture with the Corvallis Parks and Recreation Department, Wildcat Park was built by hundreds of volunteers in five days.

But the rainy mid-valley weather took its toll on the wooden planks, and stricter safety standards have been implemented, forcing the decision that the facility had reached the end of its useful life.

Hoover Elementary School teacher Barb Pastega was one of the people who spearheaded the first community effort to build Wildcat Park, and she’s involved this time, too. Her children grew up playing there, and she wants her grandchildren to be able to enjoy the new park.

Wilson students still gaze at what’s left of the structure behind the chain link fence, and families still come to the park to eat on tables under shady trees.

“People are waiting. The spirit is still here,” Pastega said.

For now, help is needed in raising money. Like the first time the park was built, schoolchildren are collecting pennies and several businesses are donating a portion of sales to the cause.

Park backers are hoping to create a maintenance endowment to pay for long-term upkeep, avoiding the problems the old park succumbed to. Steering committee chairman Mark Hoffman, a park neighbor and parent, said the endowment would be managed by the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation.

“Maintenance is as important as the design,” Hoffman said.

The fund-raising drive and the project’s success will depend on donations from people, businesses and service organizations, he said.

Earlier this year, the Corvallis School Board set aside $100,000 from money leftover from the 2002 facilities improvement bond measure to pay for deconstruction and safety improvements at Wildcat Park. In addition to closing Wildcat Park, the district has since performed safety audits of all its playgrounds and removed safety hazards, such as slides that were too tall, swings with more than two swings per bay and other structures that pose dangers to children.

Although all play structures have a limited lifespan, the plastics and composites used in current construction are more durable than wood and should last longer.

Rehabilitating the park was strongly considered, but the committee decided that building new would be the most cost-effective and safest way to proceed.

Later this fall, the district will demolish the park. Many people have expressed an interest in having some of the park for sentimental reasons.

On Saturday, the public is invited to help salvage what’s left of the structure, with some exceptions, such as the swings and slides. The salvage event is from 8 a.m. to noon at Wildcat Park, 2701 N.W. Satinwood Ave.

Wildcat’s signature wooden towers have already been salvaged and are being stored to be reused or integrated into the new park.

Rebecca Barrett covers public policy and education for the Gazette-Times. She can be reached at rebecca.barrett@lee.net or 758-9510.

AT A GLANCE

THE ISSUE: Wildcat Park was closed in January due to safety concerns.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SO FAR: A committee has formed to raise money and assist with planning and building a replacement Wildcat Park.

WHAT’S NEXT: A fund-raising effort is under way to collect $200,000 to build a replacement park next year.

WILDCAT PARK SALVAGE DAY

WHAT: The public is invited to help dismantle Wildcat Park to make way for a new playground. Bring your own tools. No gas motors, but battery-powered tools are allowed. Certain items will be marked off-limits, including the slides and swings.

WHEN: 8 a.m. to noon Saturday

WHERE: Wilson Elementary School, 2701 N.W. Satinwood Ave.

INFORMATION: wildcat@letshelp.us

ON THE NET: www.newwildcatpark.org