Lakewood Community Development Corporation and Village Officials gather in front of new playground at Hartley Park (November 10, 2022)

Construction is underway for a new $700,000 playground at Hartley Park in the village of Lakewood.

The new playground replaces a structure that had been deteriorating, with parts of the structure having to be removed in recent years due to being unsafe.

Lakewood Mayor Randy Holcomb said the project is a collaboration between the Village Board of Trustees and Lakewood Community Development Corporation.

LCDC President Bill Evans said the project began with a community fundraising effort that led to $456,000 being funded through Empire State Development.

He said there are multiple phases to the project, “So what is initially happening now is we’re replacing all of the equipment on both pads. New equipment, new engineered wood chips surface, there’s going to be slides built into the hill between the two pads, longest zip line in the region, that is phase one. Phase two will involve creating handicap accessible pathways to the different paths.”

Evans said landscaping will be added too.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022