The Jenkintown School Board of Directors approved the construction of a new playground at Legacy Park at Jenkintown Elementary School during their meeting on Monday, January 13.

The new playground will replace the Jenkintown Community Playground castle, which is slated to be dismantled over the next 1-2 years. Jenkintown officials sent a memo in early September 2024 announcing that three areas of the castle were identified as unsafe.

According to an October document regarding the project, “The proposed area for consideration for development includes the greenspace adjacent to the Jenkintown Elementary School, including the castle park, field and smaller play structures. The final project scope will depend on fundraising and final design plans and may be phased over several years. All timing is projected and subject to change given fundraising, project scope and necessary approvals”.

Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2026.

According to the Jenkintown Education Foundation’s website, a feasibility study regarding the Legacy Park Project began in October.

From JEF’s announcement:

The Legacy Park at Jenkintown Elementary hopes to become a space that will unite both the students who utilize the grounds during school hours and welcome community members after hours and on weekends. To accomplish this, we would like you to provide your thoughts by taking a survey and we want to tell you more about our plans:

▫ Students will take an age-appropriate survey in school to gain their feedback about which play environments to which they best respond.
▫ Adults in the borough will gain access to a more comprehensive survey via the button below. This will give the planning board insight as to how the larger community would like to interact with the green space available at the school campus.
▫ The surveys will be collected through the end of December 2024. We look forward to understanding the community’s wants and needs to make the park enjoyable for all!
• Site surveys and soil samples will be done on the grounds in October and November 2024.
• At the end of data collection, we will compile our results and hold a town hall to share the findings and drawings of proposed options and the finalized budgets for fundraising.
We look forward to partnering with the Borough and JYA (Jenkintown Youth Athletics) in this project. Allowing for all parts of our community to continue to grow forward together.

Our biggest wish is that we can give families with toddlers, school aged children, grandparents, couples, friends, athletes, outdoor enthusiasts, and gardeners, all somewhere to enjoy themselves here in Jenkintown. With this wish in mind, our focus will be on inclusion, sustainability, and looking at the spaces with long term planning in mind. Jenkintown is a beautiful community with a rich legacy and we want to ensure that this park has a positive impact for years to come.

Over the next several months, look for members of our team at various Jenkintown events, including Homecoming this weekend. We will be available to chat about the project and want you to share your ideas about the project and fundraising, ask any questions you may have, and most of all share your stories of playing in Jenkintown over the years. You can also reach out to us through email: Play@jtowndrakes.org

To donate, volunteer, or take the survey, you can click here. The January 13 meeting is below:

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