Construction is under way on a new playground at Lake Nanuet, and this one is built for every child in the park. The Town of Clarkstown broke ground on October 21 on a 10,000-square-foot all-inclusive playground with accessible equipment designed for children and families of all abilities, Supervisor George Hoehmann and the Town Board announced at the groundbreaking.

What an all-inclusive playground is

An inclusive playground goes further than a ramp to the top of the slide. The design standard that has spread through parks departments over the last decade puts play equipment at ground level and on wide, continuous surfaces so that a child using a wheelchair or a walker can reach it, adds sensory features for children who process sound and touch differently, and lays out the space so that children of different abilities play side by side rather than in separate corners. The town's announcement describes the Lake Nanuet project in exactly those terms: accessible equipment, for children and families of all abilities, on a 10,000-square-foot footprint.

Lake Nanuet Park is the town park around the lake in the hamlet of Nanuet, where the town has already put in turf baseball and softball fields. The supervisor described it as one of the standouts of the town's park system when the project was announced.

Part of a five-year run of park projects

The playground is the latest in a sequence of recreation projects the town has listed in the last five years. Clarkstown has renovated or added playgrounds at Congers Lake, at the West Nyack Hamlet Green and at Councilman Mark Woods Park at Zukor, and it recently broke ground on another in Central Nyack. It has built new turf soccer and multipurpose fields at Zukor Park and Germonds Park, and turf baseball and softball fields at Zukor, Germonds and Lake Nanuet itself.

Smaller upgrades across the town over the same period include new pickleball courts, a community garden in Central Nyack, new exercise equipment at the community centers and maintenance of the town's buildings and pool infrastructure.

What happens next

The town has not published an opening date for the playground. Groundbreakings in late October in this part of the state generally mean site work through the fall, with equipment installation and surfacing following as weather allows, so the first season of use is most likely the warm months of 2027. The town posts its recreation news and press releases at clarkstown.gov and sends updates through its eAlerts list, which residents can join from the town site.

Questions about the project go to the town's Parks and Recreation Department through Town Hall at 10 Maple Avenue in New City, 845-639-2000.

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