MVTAB Approves Refresh For Preschool Playground

By GWENDOLYN WEILER

Moapa Valley Progress

Kerry Shahan, Principle Architect for Architectural Civil Group in Las Vegas, stands before the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board on Wednesday, August 29. He is showing designs for the new pirate-themed playground being proposed to replace the outdated equipment behind the Overton Community Center. Moments later, the board unanimously votes to approve the plans to go before the county commissioners in September.

“We recently updated most of the other playgrounds and parks in our valley, so it was just time to bring this one up to speed as well,” said John Stastny, program supervisor for Moapa Valley Parks and Recreation.

Clark County liaison Janice Ridondo looks forward to seeing the old play area upgraded. “I have been a representative here since ’09, and I have lovingly called it Hitler’s playground,” Ridondo said. “It is a nightmare. It has been budgeted to update it and make it a safer place for kids.”.

County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick has already worked to secure funding for the project. “Mrs. Ridondo and Commissioner Kirkpatrick were huge in this,” Stastny said. “I can talk about all the things I’d like to have, but without their support and their help, nothing’s going to happen for us. So, we’re very thankful to them.”.
“There are about 40 children who use the current playground every other day across several different programs,” Stastny said.

Two of the biggest programs currently using the area are the pre-school which currently has 20 children enrolled and meets twice a week. The Rhythm and Rhymes Active Learning group, which currently has an enrollment of 15 children, also uses the facility.

Lacey Sproul-Tom of Logandale, who is the mother of a three-year-old attending the pre-school, said that the current playground is really small and there isn’t much there for kids. “I’m thankful for the program itself,” Sproul-Tom said. “But it would be nice to get nicer equipment for our kids to play on because I’m pretty sure it’s the same equipment my sister played on when she was in that program 20 years ago.”

Stastny confirmed that the current play equipment is at least 19 years old. Some of it has been removed over the years, but nothing has been added.
“We’ve removed several pieces because we thought they were a hazard,” Stastny said. “What’s out there right now is pretty pedestrian. There’s not a lot of wow factor to it at all.”

The new play area will be pirate-themed and is being designed specifically for children ages three- to five-years-old.
The plans indicate it will incorporate a lot of climbing, running, jumping, and digging.
The plans are scheduled to go before the county commissioners in September and is expected to be approved.

Stastny estimates the project will be completed in late spring of 2019, although a more exact timeline will be outlined once the project is formally approved and it goes out for bid.