GREENE – For many years, the Village of Greene “Ball Flats” park has served as a location for the community to gather for public events like the Labor Day picnic, little league games and festivals. Recently, a group of Greene residents formed the Greene Community Ball Flats Playground Planning Committee with it's sights set on revitalizing the underutilized public facility.

In April of 2009, ownership of the Ball Flats passed from the Greene Central School District to the Village and Town of Greene. Despite efforts to maintain the facilities, the existing playground had to be removed in 2010 due to deterioration and insurance liability.

Due to the rising costs of playground equipment and insurance compounded by the no-so-distant memory of two recent floods that inundated the Ball Flats; the Village and Town has refrained from replacing the playground.

A group of residents are now heeding the call for action and are interested in addressing the lack of a public playground in the immediate community, and are reaching out to the community and local businesses for participation, input and funding.

“Currently, there is no place in the Greene area for children to play with the exception of the school playgrounds. Since the security at many schools has been intensified in recent years, no one is allowed on school property or playgrounds during hours of instruction... if people try to enter the school property, they are generally asked to leave.”

“We need to have a place for families with younger children to use during the school day, within walking distance from the village,” said Marcia Miller, Co-chair of the playgrounds committee.

Miller added, “We want to build something that can accommodate up to about 35 children – around the size of the old structure that was taken down. The new equipment will be ADA compliant and installed by the manufacturer to ensure it's integrity.”

The committee has approached the Greene Inter Municipal Parks Committee with a proposal to establish fundraising effort – which was approved – and have made a goal to have a Ball Flats Playground in place by 2015.

The newly formed committee has hosted a handful of public meetings and have met with representatives from leading manufacturers of playgrounds to discuss budgeting and feasibility. Said Miller, “We've met with three vendors at previous meetings and have narrowed the decision down to two, we will most likely start that process at our January meeting.”