Support the DIA in their call to open the Commons Playground

The Commons Playground is a valuable public space that has been blocked by a private venture for an unreasonable amount of time. The undersigned would like the Common Council to approve the "proposal to remove the temporary protection structure that covers the playground today and build a second fence line at the legally proscribed fall protection zone edge. The existing fence line would be removed but kept nearby such that it would be easy to reinstall quickly. At any time that the building commissioner feels that the risk is elevated, the playground could be closed for that short period of time. In addition, the playground would be open all weekends and holidays."

Full Letter by John Guttridge of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance to the Ithaca Common Council:

The commons playground is a key public asset creating a social meeting place for parents of young children in the core of our community. It creates tremendous social value for our city during the warmer months bringing a level of conviviality to our public square that is without equal. In addition to the social value of the playground, there is tremendous economic value that is created. Parents of young children playing downtown shop in our stores and dine in our restaurants. It is a key driver of several of our unique and cherished downtown businesses such as Jillian's Drawers and Alphabet Soup; it plays a role in the overall success of most of the retail businesses downtown by driving traffic to the commons and downtown as a whole.

Building regulations require that an overhead protection zone be established in the area that is most likely to be impacted in the unlikely event that an object is dropped during active construction from activities overhead. That overhead protection zone includes a small amount of the west edge of the playground, specifically about to the silver sphere, but none of the main playground structure. CPSC regulations require an access zone around playground equipment, these two zones overlap a small amount, perhaps a few inches, or maybe as much as a foot, but that could be mitigated by installing a single piece of staging to provide overhead protection in this small area.

The Planning and Building staff have raised the valid concern that at certain times during construction, while it is incredibly unlikely that objects would fall from overhead anywhere within this project, and even more unlikely outside of the legally proscribed fall protection zone, it is not impossible and the risk of having a bunch of kids right next to the fence at those times is too great. We agree with this analysis.

That said, most of the time, it is not too risky to have the playground open. At times like now, while the project is working in the ground, or while work is taking place on the rear tower section and not on the front, or while the façade is mostly enclosed and work is interior to the building there is virtually no risk that anything might fall. Further, it should be safe to assume that on the weekends and holidays the contractor will have left the site secure and safe such that nothing will fall.

It is our proposal that the contractor remove the temporary protection structure that covers the playground today and build a second fence line at the legally proscribed fall protection zone edge. The existing fence line would be removed but kept nearby such that it would be easy to reinstall quickly. At any time that the building commissioner feels that the risk is elevated, the playground could be closed for that short period of time. In addition, the playground would be open all weekends and holidays.

The developer, having reviewed this proposal has responded that they cannot be certain that they would not damage the playground equipment and surface without the complex temporary protection structure they have built and therefore it must remain. We find this to be unacceptable. The playground is outside of the legally proscribed fall protection zone. If the contractors do not feel confident that they can prevent objects from falling outside that zone they should not be allowed to work adjacent to the public as that would create unacceptable risk to those walking adjacent to the fence line. Further, if the contractors do cause any damage to public property adjacent to the site, or anywhere else, they should be responsible for fixing it. While we agree that the life of a child is too great a risk even when it is incredibly unlikely that something might fall, we do not agree that property damage is too great a risk in said incredibly unlikely event.

We implore the City to require the developer to move forward with our proposal and return this key asset to the community as much of the time as is safe and practical during the construction period.