'Tot Lots' in Four Columbia Villages To Be Removed In 2011; Possibly More Over Next Decade

Four tot lots in Columbia will be coming down this year – and more than 30 other playgrounds could be eliminated over the next decade.

The first tot lots to be removed in 2011 will probably be in the villages of Harper’s Choice, Hickory Ridge, Owen Brown and River Hill.

“It’s a cost-cutting measure,” said Denis Ellis, the Columbia Association staffer who is handling the playground removals. “We look at ongoing maintenance and, even more importantly, periodic replacement costs.”

Columbia has 171 tot lots, which can include wooden structures, slides, swings, sandboxes and other diversions for little ones.

Each receives regular maintenance: Trash is removed, mulch and sand levels are maintained and playground equipment is checked. And the tot lots are replaced about every 15 to 20 years, depending on their conditions, Ellis said.

Twenty percent of those 171 tot lots – 35 or so – are expected to be eliminated within the next 10 years.

“We’re starting out with four per year as the goal,” Ellis said. “That’s really a target. We don’t know what the results will be, what reaction we’re going to get.”

Columbia Association has left it up to the village boards to figure out how to decide which playgrounds should come down.

Two of the four villages where tot lots are expected to come down this year have settled on which playgrounds will go – Hickory Ridge and River Hill. The other two villages – Harper’s Choice and Owen Brown – have top candidates but have not locked in those tot lots as the ones to be cut.

“We had quite a community effort,” said Jane Parrish, village manager for Hickory Ridge. “The village board was concerned that some of our tot lots were underused or were problematic, kids hanging out and that type of thing.

“We came up with some we knew were problematic. We asked the [Columbia Association] open space department to tell us which, of the ones we looked at, were underused. We put it in our newsletter about four times.”

The final choice: the playground behind Satinwood Drive, which was seen as a teen hangout that attracted suspicious behavior, Parrish said.

That tot lot was slated to come down in February. It was still up as of Sunday. Once it is removed, there will be 21 tot lots remaining in Hickory Ridge.

Any kids and parents who did use that tot lot before won’t have to go far to find another one. A new playground with what Parrish called “all the latest, greatest equipment” is just across Sunny Spring near the Hawthorn Center.

In River Hill, the tot lot near Mellow Wine Way will be removed this year.

“We went through a very extensive public process,” said Susan Smith, the village manager. “We came back with no one wanting it to absolutely remain, and other people saying it’s not used very often. It’s in the woods kind of off by itself.

“It seemed like a logical choice once we got the feedback from residents. There were several others that were considered, and we thought they might have been selected, but people came out in force for those.”

It was supposed to be removed the week of Feb. 21. It was still standing as of this past weekend.

“There are several nearby that are in more visible locations,” Smith said.

There will be 24 tot lots remaining in River Hill.

In Harper’s Choice, the village board is considering whether a tot lot near Endymion Lane should be eliminated.

Residents had initially asked the board to have that lot removed as “it is not used by tots, but is used by teens,” said Wendy Tzuker, the village manager.

But then others spoke up, asking the board to keep that playground, saying that it is used and that there are no problems with it, Tzuker said.

The board has “decided to do a survey of the residents,” she said. “In the next two weeks or so I will get a big mailing out to anybody who’ll possibly be affected by the tot lot and then wait for the replies.”

If the board decides it should come down, there will then be 13 tot lots remaining in Harper’s Choice, including eight in the neighborhood, Longfellow, where the Endymion playground is.

“That tot lot happens to be within close proximity of the elementary school, which has a nice playground,” Tzuker remarked.

And in Owen Brown, the board there has not yet decided which playground will come down, though one candidate for removal is the tot lot outside of the village’s tennis courts.

“It’s not used,” claims Nancy Thomas, village manager. “There are many tot lots in the area, and the one at the tennis club is for the patrons of the tennis club – and they’re not using it.”

Columbia Association had proposed four other tot lots as for elimination. The board is still considering two of them – playgrounds located near Brush Run and Silver Sod – along with the tennis club playground.

“Both of those will have signs posted by CA letting people know they potentially will be closed and to contact the village office. We also advertised in the village newsletter,” Thomas said.

Once a playground is removed, Owen Brown will have 20 remaining. Any decision will not be made until this summer, according to Thomas.

 “We want to be thorough,” she said. “We want to be sure the residents are aware of what’s happening. If they have any concerns, they can certainly contact us. CA is not coming in and just taking them out – they’re asking for resident input.”