Overview:
The Athol Selectboard unanimously voted in favor of an ADA-accessible playground at Fish Park, which would be funded by a nearly $249,000 grant from the Mass Office of Disabilities Municipal ADA Improvement. The decision came after recent meetings where supporters and opponents spoke on the proposed project. Town Manager Shaun Suhoski noted that the town has an ADA accessibility plan developed in 2023 and 2024, which includes Lake Park.
ATHOL – The Selectboard has offered its support for an Americans with Disabilities Act- accessible playground at Fish Park.
The board’s unanimous vote in support of the project took place at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 3. This comes less than a week after the Open Space and Recreation Review Committee voted unanimously to move ahead with the project after hearing from both supporters and opponents at its meeting on Jan. 27.
“We do have a recommendation to go forward,” Town Manager Shaun Suhoski told the board prior to its vote, “and we previously accepted the grant, so we’re hopeful to get the board’s assent to move forward.”
The town received an FY26 Mass Office of Disabilities Municipal ADA Improvement Grant of nearly $249,000 to pay for the new park.
Chair Rebecca Bialecki noted that the board had received a packet full of letters opposing the playground at Fish Park, only one of which was signed. As for the handful of unsigned correspondence, Bialecki added, “I certainly don’t think that those carry much weight.”
During the public comment period, Newton Street resident Michael Burnham asked why funds were being invested in a new playground at Fish Park when a study done for the town several years ago found the playground at Lake Park was not ADA-accessible.
“It’s my understanding that when we last did some upgrades at Lake Park playground, the DPW superintendent at that time talked to me about getting close to another 10 years – and now five years – of useful life out of the equipment that is there,” said Bialecki. “It’s not fully ADA accessible. We’re aware of that.”
“With that being said, and knowing that needs to be upgraded, we’ve had four years and nothing has been done,” Burnham responded.
Suhoski explained the town had an ADA accessibility plan developed in 2023 and 2024 “and Lake Park, along with 100 other facilities in town, was identified. So, we know if we do some investment in Lake Park we need to make it accessible. Anything we touch and invest funds in now has to be made accessible under that plan, and Lake Park is in that plan.”
Burnham persisted by asking why grant monies couldn’t be spent at Lake Park “versus putting a whole new playground someplace else.”
“Sometimes grants come up with very specific and narrowly defined requirements,” said Bialecki. “In this case, we knew that in order to be successful in getting the grant, the census track that was used that encompasses Fish Park, specifically, made us much more highly rated in applying for this grant. The other area at Lake Park, we certainly know about. I don’t think anybody wants to not add accessible equipment over there; it’s a matter of finding where in a queue that grant money is going to come up.
“I think Athol would be really wrong,” she continued, “to turn down funding from the state that would be free to us – and not be another burden on the taxpayers – when we have it given to us.”