Police Cove Park in Barrington will add a splash pad

Construction on new park feature scheduled to begin next month

Posted 2/14/19

If construction proceeds as expected, Barrington residents and non-residents will be able to cool off at the Police Cove Park splash pad this summer. 

The Barrington Town Council recently …

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Police Cove Park in Barrington will add a splash pad

Construction on new park feature scheduled to begin next month

Posted

If construction proceeds as expected, Barrington residents and non-residents will be able to cool off at the Police Cove Park splash pad this summer. 

The Barrington Town Council recently approved a bid to construct a "water play feature," plantings, and relocate a sculpture from one spot in Police Cove Park to another. 

The splash pad design includes streams of water shooting out of the ground and out of play structures. There will be a foot pedal that activates the water jets, a 6-and-a-half-foot-tall horizontal water jet "creating a water wall effect," a 12-foot tall "Sea Silhouette Fish," a "geyser" spraying water from the ground, and a "gusher" that also sprays water from the ground.

A $95,000 grant from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management will pay for some of the project. Remaining funding will come from the Police Cove capital reserve account and the town's Parks and Trails capital reserve account.

The council awarded the bid to Catalano Construction Inc., of Cumberland, in the amount of $138,638. That bid amount includes a 10 percent contingency.

Council member Kate Weymouth said she believes the splash pad will help draw more people to Police Cove Park. She added that she has seen similar water parks in Amsterdam and Portland, Ore.

Councilor Jacob Brier offered a slightly different perspective. Mr. Brier said that when he first imagined the splash pad park he thought it would be better suited for the town beach. 

Barrington Town Planner Phil Hervey said the town was hoping to use the splash pad feature to increase pedestrian use of Police Cove Park. He said officials would like to see the park frequented by more people. 

The splash pad feature will be located in the same area of the park that is currently home to a sculpture. Officials plan to move that sculpture closer to the parking areas.

Work on the project is expected to begin March 18, weather permitting, and conclude on May 10.

The town had to re-bid the splash pad feature. Initially, the water play features had been part of a bid that also included construction of a shade structure at Police Cove Park. But only one bid ($233,000) was received for that combined project, and officials deemed that bid to be too pricey. 

The town then split up the project and bid the shade structure separately. The town received four bids, and accepted a bid for $58,645 from a Lakeville, Mass. company to build the shade structure.

The town also received four bids for the splash pad project. The lowest bid was from Catalano Construction for $126,770 (which does not include the 10 percent contingency), and the highest bid was from East Coast Construction out of Portsmouth for $153,645.

The council voted unanimously to award the bid to Catalano Construction. 

Catalano has installed other splash pad parks around the state, including one at Roger Williams Park Zoo ($520,000), Galego Court Water Park in Pawtucket ($218,000), and the Hunt Street Park in Central Falls ($509,000).

Installation of the splash pad will require an upgrade of water lines in the area, from a 1-inch line to a 2-inch line. It will also require the extension of an electric power line underground.

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