News

By Jane Smith

Oceanfront Park will soon have upgraded playground equipment and a fitness area for adults after Boynton Beach city commissioners approved the $150,000 project in early October.
Kompan Inc., a Texas-based playground equipment maker, awarded a $50,000 grant to Boynton Beach, said Andrew Mack, the city’s public works director. “We were one of five nationally this year to receive the grant,” he told commissioners on Oct. 2.
Assembly of the playground will start in November and finish in January.
The playground site will be moved closer to the parking lot to allow two “megatowers” to be built. One unit will have climb-up ropes and slides, while the larger one will have a walking deck, Mack said.
The adult fitness area will have stair-climbers, pushup bars and stretching equipment, according to the drawings. Commissioner Mack McCray asked about shade coverings over the slides so that the equipment would not be too hot to use by kids wearing bathing suits.
Shade sails will not be installed, but the equipment will be placed close to the trees to provide some shade, Mack said.
The playground equipment should last 10 years, Mack said. It uses galvanized steel fittings and recyclable plastic that can “withstand the salt air.”