April 17, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 19 Mahwah Playground (continued from page 7) According to the Winter’s Park Playground Committee, the 17-acre park property was donated to the township by the Winter family in 1961. In February 1962, the property was dedicated as a park. In 1992, a group of volunteers built the existing playground on the property, but over 20 years later, the state of the current playground area is poor and must be rebuilt for the next generation of children to enjoy. The plan for the new playground includes new, ADAcompliant equipment, installation, and playground mulch, a requirement for a safe play environment. Motivated by the organic nature of play and the natural setting of Winter’s Park, the plans include building a new playground complete with nature inspired equipment. In addition to building an area for children ages two through five, and an area for children ages five through 12, plans include play trails that serve to unite play and nature by incorporating the equipment into the landscape. For continued preservation of the historic site, the plans include adding natural elements such as age-appropriate climbing rocks, tree stumps for sitting, tree climbers, a tree swing, a log crawl through, a spinning mushroom, and other naturalistic features. The cost to improve the playground has been estimated by Boswell Engineering, the township’s engineering firm, at $240,000. This figure does not include any engineering costs because the improvements are planned for the same location as the existing playground. The Mahwah Township Council has submitted an application to the Bergen County Open Space, Recreation, Farmland, and Historic Preservation Trust Fund for a $132,000 grant to make improvements at the Winter’s Park playground. The award would be a matching grant, which would require the township to match the amount of the grant the township receives from the county. According to Township Administrator Brian Campion, a hearing on this application is scheduled for April 29. He is optimistic the township will receive this grant. Driving force Billy Romano of Mahwah went to the finals and finished in second place at the opening day of Junior Drag Racing at Englishtown. The entire Romano Racing team would like to thank the MMA for all of their support.