The SOS Brownfield Committee feels having a new, compliant playground within six months of the removal of the old playground, with funding approved at a town meeting by the voters and taxpayers of Brownfield, is an excellent accomplishment. Rather than accusations of fiduciary irresponsibility, our SB (Rick, Brian and Frank) deserve credit for carefully considering the options and deciding to take swift action, resulting in a widely appreciated and much used playground.
Before the recall vote on Sept 3, see the full picture. Below are the timeline and supporting documents below about Dunn Memorial Park and Brownfield’s Playground. After numerous complaints about the safety of the Dunn Memorial Park playground, the SB (consisting of Rick Emery, Frank Day and Brian Fortier) thought it prudent to restrict public access on April 1, 2025. The SB consulted with legal counsel who advised that access should be restricted IMMEDIATELY on April 1, 2025. This was done the same day. On April 8, the SB formed a Playground Committee to oversee the replacement of the wooden playground. The Committee chose an ADA compliant playground. It is not located within Dunn Memorial Park. The decision to relocate it to the field by the Community Center instead of building on the previous location was due to the fact that the original location was deemed to be too close to the ball field for safety reasons. On April 9, the SB submitted an Obsolescence Request for the Dunn Memorial Park to the State. On April 29, the SB called in the State for inspection of the old playground. It was deemed unsafe at that time. On May 14, 2025, the state sent a letter to the town stating that the playground would need to be replaced. The town could apply for a grant to help pay for the new playground, but there were no guarantees for funding. On June 10, 2025, the question of funding the proposed playground envisioned by the Playground Committee was presented to the voters at the Town Meeting. Article 23 was approved for $180,000 by a significant margin, and the playground was opened in October of 2025. This was done, again with voter approval, so that there would be a usable ADA-compliant playground for the children in a timely manner rather than working through a grant process that would have taken at least several years to achieve with no guarantee of actually receiving funding. On March 12, 2026, Doug Beck (Director of Grants & Community Recreation for the State of Maine) sent a letter to the town requesting an update on renovation or replacement of the playground. On May 1, 2026, Mr. Beck visited the site, and discussed the status of Dunn Memorial Park with town officials. In an email follow-up on May 4, Mr. Beck said that it was prudent that the old wooden playground structure was removed, as it was a viable legal issue. However, there were still areas where the Dunn Memorial Park was out of compliance. The first issue was that an earlier SB (some time in the 1990's) chose to build a new town office on the existing access road. Once this was completed, it put the town out of compliance with the Dunn Memorial Park grant. Doug Beck suggested several steps to remediate this non-compliance issue. 1. Identify an appropriate access corridor from Main Street into the Park. 2. Create a revised site plan/boundary map that clearly identifies this new access route. 3. Send this revised site map to Doug Beck who will work through the process on his end. The other issue was the need to replace the removed amenities with something of recreational equivalency within the park boundaries. Consideration for a “small conversion” was also mentioned. A small conversion is a special case where only a partial conversion occurs — no more than 10% of the total Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) recreation area is removed from the recreation estate, or a smaller amount if that percentage is less than five acres (though the current policy has removed the five-acre cap for more flexibility). Mr. Beck proposed that one process to achieve compliance would be to secure the services of a qualified Landscape Architect who could assist the Town in the process of envisioning the further development of the park, develop and draft plans, create a budget, and assist with submission to the LWCF and grant applications. To begin this process, a new site plan was sent to Mr. Beck on May 18, 2026. Using the process proposed by Mr. Beck, a competitive grant could be submitted by June 2027. This grant process would require the town to invest funds even before applying, and there would still be no guarantees that the project would be funded. Mr. Beck estimated that the project start date would be March 1, 2028 for a two-construction season project period through December 31, 2029. The SB requested another obsolescence determination in July 2026. Mr. Beck advised that it was better to wait to send a letter of obsolescence until the new plan is submitted. There are still future opportunities to apply for a grant for further park development to ensure that equivalent recreational amenities have been created within the boundaries of Dunn Memorial Park. Meanwhile, the ball field has been enlarged and the Rec Dept is considering filling in the area of the old playground with batting cages. Future plans may include refurbishing or repurposing the tennis and basketball courts. A town “visioning” workshop was proposed by Willy Tracy and Tracie Peek-Antolin at the July 21 SB meeting. The idea was welcomed by the SB. See what others are saying: Lake Region Kids’ Calendar feature article.
Before the recall vote on Sept 3, see the full picture. Below are the timeline and supporting documents below about Dunn Memorial Park and Brownfield’s Playground. After numerous complaints about the safety of the Dunn Memorial Park playground, the SB (consisting of Rick Emery, Frank Day and Brian Fortier) thought it prudent to restrict public access on April 1, 2025. The SB consulted with legal counsel who advised that access should be restricted IMMEDIATELY on April 1, 2025. This was done the same day. On April 8, the SB formed a Playground Committee to oversee the replacement of the wooden playground. The Committee chose an ADA compliant playground. It is not located within Dunn Memorial Park. The decision to relocate it to the field by the Community Center instead of building on the previous location was due to the fact that the original location was deemed to be too close to the ball field for safety reasons. On April 9, the SB submitted an Obsolescence Request for the Dunn Memorial Park to the State. On April 29, the SB called in the State for inspection of the old playground. It was deemed unsafe at that time. On May 14, 2025, the state sent a letter to the town stating that the playground would need to be replaced. The town could apply for a grant to help pay for the new playground, but there were no guarantees for funding. On June 10, 2025, the question of funding the proposed playground envisioned by the Playground Committee was presented to the voters at the Town Meeting. Article 23 was approved for $180,000 by a significant margin, and the playground was opened in October of 2025. This was done, again with voter approval, so that there would be a usable ADA-compliant playground for the children in a timely manner rather than working through a grant process that would have taken at least several years to achieve with no guarantee of actually receiving funding. On March 12, 2026, Doug Beck (Director of Grants & Community Recreation for the State of Maine) sent a letter to the town requesting an update on renovation or replacement of the playground. On May 1, 2026, Mr. Beck visited the site, and discussed the status of Dunn Memorial Park with town officials. In an email follow-up on May 4, Mr. Beck said that it was prudent that the old wooden playground structure was removed, as it was a viable legal issue. However, there were still areas where the Dunn Memorial Park was out of compliance. The first issue was that an earlier SB (some time in the 1990's) chose to build a new town office on the existing access road. Once this was completed, it put the town out of compliance with the Dunn Memorial Park grant. Doug Beck suggested several steps to remediate this non-compliance issue. 1. Identify an appropriate access corridor from Main Street into the Park. 2. Create a revised site plan/boundary map that clearly identifies this new access route. 3. Send this revised site map to Doug Beck who will work through the process on his end. The other issue was the need to replace the removed amenities with something of recreational equivalency within the park boundaries. Consideration for a “small conversion” was also mentioned. A small conversion is a special case where only a partial conversion occurs — no more than 10% of the total Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) recreation area is removed from the recreation estate, or a smaller amount if that percentage is less than five acres (though the current policy has removed the five-acre cap for more flexibility). Mr. Beck proposed that one process to achieve compliance would be to secure the services of a qualified Landscape Architect who could assist the Town in the process of envisioning the further development of the park, develop and draft plans, create a budget, and assist with submission to the LWCF and grant applications. To begin this process, a new site plan was sent to Mr. Beck on May 18, 2026. Using the process proposed by Mr. Beck, a competitive grant could be submitted by June 2027. This grant process would require the town to invest funds even before applying, and there would still be no guarantees that the project would be funded. Mr. Beck estimated that the project start date would be March 1, 2028 for a two-construction season project period through December 31, 2029. The SB requested another obsolescence determination in July 2026. Mr. Beck advised that it was better to wait to send a letter of obsolescence until the new plan is submitted. There are still future opportunities to apply for a grant for further park development to ensure that equivalent recreational amenities have been created within the boundaries of Dunn Memorial Park. Meanwhile, the ball field has been enlarged and the Rec Dept is considering filling in the area of the old playground with batting cages. Future plans may include refurbishing or repurposing the tennis and basketball courts. A town “visioning” workshop was proposed by Willy Tracy and Tracie Peek-Antolin at the July 21 SB meeting. The idea was welcomed by the SB. See what others are saying: Lake Region Kids’ Calendar feature article.
