The new Town Hall Annex playground has been a big hit since children started playing on it earlier this year. Recreation officials hope for the same at Bicentennial Playground on Briggs Road.

Members of the select board last week signed off on the first phase of a three-step plan to renovate and build a new facility on the site of the old playground, which has seen better days.

It will be handicap-accessible, inclusive and includes features that have proved popular at the annex: Slides, spinners, a variety of different types of swings, a rubber surface and other amenities, recreation commission chairwoman Andrea Dunbar said.

“We’ve really tried to draw in handicapped children (and) able-bodied children,” she said. “We’ve tried very hard to make this inclusive, to capture all members of our community. We’re excited.”

The entire project is expected to cost just under $530,000, with funds already provided by the Community Preservation Act and approved at the 2024 and ’25 town meetings.

On Monday, select board members signed off on the majority of that expenditure, a $499,862 contract with the designer/builder, MRC/GameTime — the same firm that installed the annex playground.

The overall Bicentennial project will be broken into three phases, recreation Dana Stewart said:

• Phase I includes the new playground;

• Phase II will see the renovation of the entire park, including the refurbishment of the basketball courts and a paved walking path around the park’s perimeter;

• Phase III will replace the old skate park with a new one, and possibly addition amenities to be determined.

If all goes according to plan, the new playground will be installed this coming Spring. To save funds on the town-sponsored project, highway department officials have agreed to help demo and remove the old playground equipment.

The new playground contains dozens of features, from a 12’ climbing tower to monkey bars, inclusive play areas, a river rock climber, slides, tables, a host of swings for singles, children and their parents and those with physical disabilities, and more.