Universally Accessible Park Coming to Navy Yard's Parcel 5

Guests at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in the Charlestown Navy Yard soon will have a new place to take some of their first steps toward recovery—a universally accessible playground located just outside the hospital’s front doors.

The new recreational area is being built on Parcel 5, which juts out into the harbor, and will provide not only a place of therapy for Spaulding patients but also a fun, recreational space for all Navy Yard residents and visitors.

The $1.6 million project is part of the city’s recently approved fiscal year 2014 budget and is one of Mayor Thomas Menino’s pet projects—one he hopes to see well underway by the time he leaves office this December, Boston Parks Commissioner Toni Pollak said at a recent public meeting on the project.

Pollak, a Charlestown resident, said the mayor noticed the empty lot outside his window while he was undergoing therapy at the new Spaulding Hospital and “really saw an opportunity to give something back” by transforming the site into a park.

The Parks Department is in talks with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which owns Parcel 5, to transfer the property to their care and control. The move will help ensure the land remains a park in perpetuity, Pollak said.

This week, the city opened up bids for part one of the project, which involves extending the Harbor Walk on a wooden boardwalk around the edge of Parcel 5. That project is expected to get underway very soon.

The second part of the project involves creation of a series of land mounds divided by a central promenade, which will contain the play equipment for the park. Located on the edge of the harbor, the site is one of the most exposed waterfront areas in the Navy Yard, and the terraced land mounds will create a natural buffer from wind and water for playground visitors, according to Cheri Ruane, landscape architect with Weston & Sampson.

Ruane, who also is designing a splashpad at the Navy Yard’s Shipyard Park, said the project is both challenging and exciting. She called the opportunity to transform prime waterfront space into a public park “nothing short of epic.”

“It is a legacy project for everyone involved,” Ruane said.

To design the park, Ruane is working with the staff at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital to make the play areas more than just ADA compliant but truly accessible to all. The design is inspired by the old dry docks in the Navy Yard, where naval ships were repaired.

A gently sloped walkway will allow visitors of all abilities to move through the park and access all the play features. Among those features are a multi-person seesaw with backs to support all levels of trunk control; a large saucer swing; a carousel that is flush with the ground so wheelchairs can roll on; a mix of swings for various ages and abilities; and balance beams, parallel bars, a slide and climbing ladder.

A moving “clatter bridge” will help set a challenge for some of the younger clients undergoing therapy, Ruane said.

Other features are geared toward sensory play—a roller table that kids can pull themselves across, a set of chimes and a small water table.

The site will also have a small parking area with about 10 spaces (three to four reserved for handicapped parking), Ruane said.

The rest of the site will be landscaped with open grassy space, seats and tables.

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital has agreed to partner with the city to help with the day-to-day maintenance and security of the site, while the Parks Department will be responsible for repairs and other major concerns, Pollak said.

Some environmental remediation of the site will be necessary, but the city hopes to start construction on the park before the end of 2013.

“At the end of the day, the mayor wants to see this built and well underway before he leaves office,” Pollak said.