'I love it': Metro Detroit families play on new inclusive playground in Clinton Township
Clinton Township — Kids traveled down slides, played a xylophone and swung back and forth at Clinton Township's new Inclusive Playground as it officially opened to the public on Friday.
The $1.4 million playground, which took more than five years to come together, features six poured-in-place, Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible soft surface playscape pods designed to accommodate kids with disabilities, though it's designed for all children to use. It's located on the Clinton Township Civic Center complex on Romeo Plank near the splash pad.
AnnMarie Ottoy, the chair of Clinton Township's Township's Inclusive Playground Committee and the mother of a 25-year-old with disabilities who played a key role in making the playground a reality, said she was "completely overwhelmed" by Friday's opening.
"Seeing it today, with the children on the playground, I'm shaking, quite honestly," she said.
Children wasted no time taking advantage of the new playground, playing on all the equipment during and after Friday's ribbon-cutting, which include Clinton Township officials and some families who have loved ones with special needs.
"What you see before you is an example of how government is supposed to work," Clinton Township Supervisor Paul Gieleghem said. "It all started with a Clinton Township mom who sent a letter to township officials advocating for us to take on this project."
Ottoy said that in 2019, she wrote a letter to the township posing the concept of an inclusive playground. Gieleghem, who was the township treasurer at the time, agreed that the township needed it, but he wanted Ottoy to chair the effort, she said. The playground committee was established in late 2019.
Ottoy told The News that she is aware of two other inclusive playgrounds in Macomb County, one in Shelby Township and one in Fraser. Nearly 25% of Macomb County families that have a person with a disability live in Clinton Township, a community home to 11% of the county’s population, according to the township.
Ottoy said that standard playgrounds weren't developed with differing abilities in mind, but the Inclusive Playground is universally accessible. It has a poured-in-place surface, which means that people in wheelchairs can easily navigate the playground, unlike a woodchip surface.
The playground also has a zipline with two lines ― one with a supported seat and one with a typical seat. Ottoy said this will allow children with disabilities to play side-by-side with kids without disabilities.
"A lot of times kids with disabilities don't have the opportunity, because they're not accessible to them, so they don't get to play with other kids that are their age," she said.
Jennifer Castillo, a Pontiac mom, called the new playground "great."
"It looks very accessible," she said of the playground, "and the girls are having a great time."
Her 9-year-old, Mabel, and 12-year-old, Olivia, explored the playground in their wheelchairs on Friday.
Castillo said the playground has a "great location," as it's near a medical clinic they go to. She said musical instruments are "all over the playground," and they are are reachable for her daughters.
Olivia said she loves that the playground is wheelchair-accessible.
"There's so many things that's amazing about it, like the musical things," she said.
Jihan Marcotullio, a Clinton Township mom, said she likes that the playground's play structure is "completely caged in." She said her three-year-old, Reya, has no fear, but the enclosures mean that she isn't worried her daughter will come tumbling out of the structure.
"Everything is enclosed," she said, "and it makes me, as her parent, feel safer."
The Inclusive Playground Committee had to raise funds for the project, and it partnered with The Arc of Macomb County, a nonprofit offering services to families with special needs, to serve as the fiduciary, the township said. Ottoy said that because of the amount of money they needed to raise, "at times it felt like it was out of reach."
In 2023, the fundraising campaign was boosted with the Michigan Legislature’s approval of a $1 million appropriation bill. In May 2024, the Clinton Township Board of Trustees approved $300,000 of federal infrastructure funds for the project.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: 'I love it': Metro Detroit families play on new inclusive playground in Clinton Township
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