NORWICH – The Chenango County Department of Planning and Development is taking steps toward constructing a fully inclusive playground – one of the first of its kind in the county.

Department heads are seeking grant funds through the NYS Office of Homes and Community Renewal that would provide 100 percent of the money needed to install a playground compliant with standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“In Chenango County, we believe there’s only one adaptive park where people who are either wheelchair bound or have physical or developmental disabilities can use it appropriately,” said Shane Butler, director of the Chenango County Planning Department. “We want to see an entire playground that has an area for everyone of every age group and different abilities.”

The idea, explained Butler, is to build a new playground alongside an old one in order to make the entire playground more inclusive. New equipment would include ramps, pathways, and swing platforms for wheelchair accessibility, in addition to artificial grass or rocks and rubber mulch to present different textures.

“In many cases, people are traveling up to an hour away just because other areas have these kinds of parks,” Butler said. “We don’t.”

The planning department’s now soliciting money from the NYS Homes and Community Renewal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program which is commonly used to make residential homes and public structures more ADA compliant. Using CDBG funds for a playground, however, is new territory, said Butler.