Floral Park’s Tiny Town playground renovation detailed

The Village of Floral Park has released detailed plans for a full renovation to Tiny Town, its popular children’s playground.

The changes are to cost about $489,000 and will take eight weeks to finish with a hoped-for opening date of Memorial Day weekend, officials said.

On Tuesday, a group of landscape architects gave residents a look at the renovations.

Robert Retnauer, principal architect for St. James-based RDA Landscape Architecture, told residents that the playground surface will have a 1 1/2-inch layer of synthetic turf atop a layer of “shock padding.” Under it all will be a layer of gravel with the three layers designed to help keep the turf dry, Retnauer said.

“This will help to reduce maintenance and it does not require replacement of materials for a number of years with its 8-year warranty,” Retnauer said.

“The rain water actually drains through this and through the pad and into the gravel,” he said. “Now, since this will be all gravel, the synthetic turf will act as a giant sponge.”

Under the renovation plan, all current playground equipment will be removed and the area divided into three parts: a play section for children ages 5 to 12, one for ages 2 to 5, and an area for infants ages 6 to 23 months. New play equipment featuring slides, climbing features, a swing set, bridges, and canopy shading is to be added, officials said.

Floral Park resident Samantha Chen said she likes the changes, particularly having new play equipment.

“I’m glad they’ve added a rock-climbing thing,” said Chen, who has children age 5 and 8. “The older kids love doing that.”

Tiny Town, near the corner of Bergen Street and Fuller Avenue, is Floral Park’s only village-managed playground. The 13,000-square-foot space, last updated in 2000, has long been the go-to meetup spot where moms trade parenting secrets, residents said.

Village officials said Tiny Town has needed repairs for a while, but they accelerated the process after removing a diseased 100-year-old willow tree that provided shade.

“Tiny Town is something that’s near and dear to many of our families’ hearts,” Mayor Dominick Longobardi said. “If you grew up here, like I did, you grew up playing in that.”