DPW Board Hears Update on Hannah Williams Park

Don Ouellette, director of , told the Board of Public Works Monday that renovations of are moving forward and, should everything go perfectly as planned, he hoped to reopen the park around Oct. 15.

At Monday’s meeting, Ouellette reported that he had received quotes for all of the playground equipment and that a group of individuals who had been working on planning the renovation, in cooperation with Wayland’s Recreation Department, had reached consensus regarding the play equipment they wanted to see installed.

The equipment, Ouellette said, will cost about $100,000 including shipping and cargo. Wayland approved $120,000 to be spent on the park’s renovations at the April Town Meeting. In addition to that money, the Friends of Hannah Williams has collected about $14,000 toward the renovations and, Ouellette said Monday, additional funds of $4,000-$5,000 have been donated.

Hannah Williams has been closed to the public since late May, and demolition took place in mid-June leaving a largely vacant dirt pile where a playscape once stood.

Ouellette said he planned to order the equipment this week and it will take four to six weeks for delivery. In the meantime, Ouellette said he will put out a bid for the installation of the equipment around Sept. 15 and hopes to complete that process within two to three weeks of opening the bidding.

“We made a lot of progress in a short period of time, and then we just had to wait for the process,” Ouellette said, adding that trees had already been planted along the parking lot on Main Street and the fencing will be professionally installed following a bidding process that will begin in early September.

“If everything goes right, I should be done by Oct. 15,” Ouellette said, stressing that there are factors outside his control that could push that date back.

When all is said and done, the first phase of the Hannah Williams renovation will include improved parking; newly planted trees; and new, up-to-code playground equipment. Additional pieces of play equipment as well as possibly a new gazebo and walking path through or around the park are on the table for future phases. Ouellette is also working with a small group to plant an edible garden in one section of the park.

In addition, Ouellette told Board of Public Works members that there are eight or 10 benches at the proposed Wayland Town Center site that he has been unofficially told will be given to the town. He said if that donation does occur, he expects about four of those benches to be used at Hannah Williams.

“I think people are going to be happy with it,” Ouellette said.