SEBASTIAN — The City Council Wednesday authorized City Manager Al Minner to spend recreation impact fee dollars to purchase and install the Jolly Adventure Pirate Ship at the city’s Creative Playground at the Barber Street Sports Complex.
The initial estimate is $77,000 for the equipment and installation, but technically the city has budgeted $100,000 for the entire project, which may include and enhanced playground surface, picnic pavilion, shade structures and the extension of a sidewalk.
“I’m excited, I think the concept of the pirate ship in the playground will do a great deal for their imaginations,” said Vice Mayor Don Wright. “This is one of the things that makes Sebastian such a nice place to be.”
When Sebastian’s Creative Playground was erected decades ago through a private partnership between the city and local clubs and civic organizations, it represented the cutting edge in recreation equipment for kids. It was a labyrinth of forts and passageways and slides and tunnels.
Portions of the wooden components of the playground fell into disrepair over the years and had to be torn down for safety reasons.
“We had this incredible park and now it’s all gone,” said Mayor Jim Hill, who grew up in Sebastian.
New sections with the latest materials were added, but a large patch of sand remained vacant, waiting for something like the Jolly Voyager Pirate Ship to come along.
“This will bring a lot of happiness to my household,” said Councilman Bob McPartlan.”They’ll be happy with this, it’s beautiful.”
According to Minner, the city was able to piggyback on a bid offered to Palm Beach County for the equipment and installation. Council members said they were pleased that the project was slated to come in under budget, making the other amenities like the pavilion possible.
Minner said the city would “pretty it up and get some shade in there.”
Still to be decided is whether or not kids will play in sand under the pirate ship or on a shredded rubber mulch material.
“If that material is a better surface for our kids, I think we should get it,” Wright said.
The council sent that decision back to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. The rubber mulch would cost about $6,000, but it would hopefully eliminate complaints from parents about the sand and about ants.
