The East Hampton Village Board saw renderings of a new, $1.7-million playground for Herrick Park on Friday, which the village administrator said will be the subject of public hearings at the board’s meetings in November and December.
Jack Kelly of American Recreational Products, which built the playgrounds at the Springs School and the John M. Marshall Elementary School, presented to the board a design for a new playground. The vision, he said, focuses on a fun, safe, and inclusive installation for children of all ages and abilities; a transformation of the space into “a true centerpiece for village residents to gather while maintaining the natural beauty of the park,” and state-of-the-art playground equipment.
The playground is to be constructed toward the park’s south side, he said, near the sidewalk between the long-term parking lot and the Reutershan parking lot. The proposal includes a new sidewalk from Newtown Lane running through the center of the park and connecting to the existing sidewalk. “We wanted to make sure we kept plenty of room in the front of the park to preserve that natural beauty of the space,” Mr. Kelly said, “to ensure there’s enough room for village events while also keeping children away from the street.”
A 5-to-12-year-old playground area will be on the west side of the new sidewalk, with a playground area for children 2 to 5 on the east side of the new sidewalk, he said. A shaded seating area will be located along the new pathway to allow parents and caregivers to watch children whether they are on the playgrounds, basketball courts, or the green space toward Newtown Lane.
With renderings, Mr. Kelly described the proposals for the 2-to-5 and 5-to-12 playgrounds. The former encompasses around 10,800 square feet, where “one of our priorities is to address the limited number of swings at the existing playground,” he said. “So this area will feature 12 swings with two A.D.A.-accessible seats, bringing the total across the park to 20.”
The area for those 2 to 5 incorporates “a wide array of equipment focused on promoting physical, sensory, auditory, and visual learning,” Mr. Kelly said, including a rock wall climber, “loop 360 slide,” Vero wobbler, spring rockers, Visio Sensory Tunnel, and Volta Inclusive Spinner, which can fit up to nine children. The equipment comes from the Burke manufacturer of recreation and playground equipment. “All these are key elements of early childhood development,” he said, and all equipment on the 2-to-5 unit is closer to the ground than that of the 5-to-12 unit.
The area for children 5 to 12 is around 17,800 square feet. It is to feature 10 freestanding climbing, balancing, spinning, and sensory elements surrounding a main structure, as well as eight swings with two A.D.A.-accessible seats and two similar to a tire swing. This area of the park will have a seating area and walkway surrounding a large tree.
The larger area will have wheelchair-accessible ramps “to ensure accessibility directly into the action,” Mr. Kelly said. “What we found is, too many times A.D.A.-accessible elements are resigned to the outskirts of playgrounds, but our design allows all children to be involved throughout the playground area.” The area will have multiple climbing structures including a Level X Dome, overhead bars, slides, play panels, and rope tunnels as well as a 360 Loop Slide, an Innova Bridge, which he described as a moving walkway, and an Avec Glider, which “provides a soothing gliding motion for as many as seven kids.”
Both areas will have a turf surface, which Mr. Kelly said has an antimicrobial and nontoxic infill. The playground’s borders will be concrete curbs. “Anywhere there is a concrete sidewalk, the turf will be flush to that sidewalk to create a smooth and wheelchair-accessible transition into the play areas, with no trip hazards whatsoever,” he said.
The playground is the most-used section of the park, Marcos Baladron, the village administrator, said after the meeting. It was in the park in the summer of 2025, he said, that he overheard a child asking his mother if they could go to Sag Harbor because “they have a better playground.”
“That stung,” he recalled. “A little friendly competition is healthy, but the Village of East Hampton is second to none. We can live with a lot of things in this village, but losing our kids to Sag Harbor is not one of them. It’s a playground arms race now. We’ll see them at the swings.”
Mr. Baladron said that $250,000 has been raised toward the cost of the new playground. He projected construction to take place between March and May of next year, with a tentative ribbon-cutting on May 29, during Memorial Day weekend.
