The town of Dudley is the recipient of a grant up to $496,650 to rebuild the shuttered playground at the Municipal Complex. The grant for the Richard Carmignani Sr. Park was selected by the state Executive Office Energy and Environmental Affairs with the assistance distributed by the Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC).

“I’m happy that we will now have the funding to replace our municipal playground with a modern, safe and hopefully fun venue for our kids,” Town Administrator Jonathan Ruda said. “Many dedicated people were involved in the process of successfully securing this highly competitive grant. My sincere gratitude goes out to them and to our residents for their patience while we did the work necessary to secure this funding. It will be exciting to watch how the build begins to take shape.”

The park, known locally as the Fun Zone, located at the Dudley Municipal Complex, was closed early in the COVID-19 pandemic. When it reopened, visible damage, such as broken equipment and deteriorating surface materials, as well as ADA compliance deficiencies, caused its permanent closure.

Residents’ call to reopen the playground in 2022 spurred a one-year fundraiser by the Dudley Woman’s Club to help move along a renovation that would meet today’s safety, accessibility and adaptability standards. The generosity of local businesses and residents aided the town in launching the project and will contribute to funding the new equipment.

Radner Design & Assoc. prepared the playground design and selected its new equipment after meeting with 60 or so children of all ages during a Select Board meeting in April.

The project design includes an active recreation playscape with 10 unique areas of play and a pathway with interpretive signage, boulders for climbing, hammocks, splash pad and an elevated lookout platform.

With the completed design in hand, the town worked with the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission to submit its PARC grant application by a July deadline.

Dudley was notified of the grant in a September 23 letter. The grant represents an amount of up to 70 percent reimbursement of the project cost which is estimated at $704,410. The local contribution is expected to be $207,760.

The next step is the Oct. 21 town meeting where Dudley voters will be asked to approve a $704,410 borrowing. The state requires a certified affirmative town meeting vote by Dec. 31 or the town risks losing the grant.

Once the $496,650 reimbursement is received and applied to the borrowing, the remaining debt, will be paid from available funds over the course of years, Ruda said.

Other grant requirements include the start of construction on July 1, 2025 with work completed by June 1, 2026.

The PARC grant also requires that this site remain open to the general Public and prohibits any other use other than public outdoor recreation.

The PARC program was established to assist cities and towns in acquiring and developing land for park and outdoor recreation purposes. These grants can be used by municipalities to acquire parkland, build a new park or renovate and existing park.