In the summer of 2025, Village Administrator Marcos Baladron was at Herrick Park when he overheard a child ask his mother whether they could go to Sag Harbor, because "they have a better playground." He told The East Hampton Star that the remark "stung," and that "it's a playground arms race now. We'll see them at the swings."
That quote ran the week the East Hampton Village Board first saw renderings of a $1.7 million playground for the park off Newtown Lane. Baladron said the plan would get public hearings at the board's November and December meetings. The design answers a specific complaint about swings and space for small children. The hearings will also take in the rest of the park, because this is the last large piece of a park the village has been redesigning since 2019, and each new drawing has brought the earlier ones back into the conversation.
A Playground Placed Around Everything Else
Herrick Park has been a gathering place for much longer than it has been a playground. The land was donated in 1917 as the Harriet F. Herrick Playground and transferred to the village in 1976. According to 27east, it has hosted LVIS fairs, military drills and American Legion dances over the years. The East Hampton Village Foundation also notes the annual Artists vs. Writers game on its fields.
The new design is built to protect those uses. Jack Kelly of American Recreational Products, the company behind the playgrounds at the Springs School and John M. Marshall Elementary, told the board the playground would sit toward the park's south side. That puts it near the sidewalk between the long-term parking lot and the Reutershan lot, away from the Newtown Lane frontage. A new sidewalk would run from Newtown Lane through the center of the park and connect to the existing paths.
"We wanted to make sure we kept plenty of room in the front of the park to preserve that natural beauty of the space," Kelly said, "to ensure there's enough room for village events while also keeping children away from the street."
The front lawn stays open for the events the park has always hosted. Children play deeper inside, closer to the parking lots than to traffic.
Two Play Areas, One Path Between Them
The new center sidewalk also divides the playground by age. The area for younger children would sit on the east side of the path and the area for older children on the west. A shaded seating area along the path would let parents and caregivers keep an eye on both playgrounds, the basketball courts and the green toward Newtown Lane.
| Ages 2 to 5 | Ages 5 to 12 | |
|---|---|---|
| Side of new path | East | West |
| Approximate size | 10,800 square feet | 17,800 square feet |
| Swings | 12, including 2 ADA-accessible seats | 8, including 2 ADA-accessible seats, plus 2 tire-style swings |
| Signature equipment | Rock wall climber, loop 360 slide, Vero wobbler, spring rockers, Visio Sensory Tunnel, Volta Inclusive Spinner for up to nine children | Level X Dome, overhead bars, rope tunnels, 360 Loop Slide, Innova Bridge, Avec Glider for up to seven children |
| Layout | Equipment kept closer to the ground | 10 freestanding elements around a main structure, with wheelchair ramps into the play area |
The swings are the clearest fix. Kelly said one priority was "to address the limited number of swings at the existing playground." The younger children's area alone would have 12, bringing the park's total to 20. The 2-to-5 equipment comes from the manufacturer Burke and was chosen for physical, sensory, auditory and visual learning.
Accessibility shapes the larger area too. "Too many times A.D.A.-accessible elements are resigned to the outskirts of playgrounds," Kelly said, "but our design allows all children to be involved throughout the playground area." Both areas would be surfaced in turf with an antimicrobial, nontoxic infill and bordered by concrete curbs. Where the turf meets a sidewalk, it would sit flush so wheelchairs and strollers can roll straight in. In the 5-to-12 area, the seating and walkway would wrap around a large existing tree.
The Sag Harbor Yardstick
Baladron did not say which Sag Harbor playground the child had in mind. The best-known rebuild there is at Mashashimuet Park, and it came about differently. The park is run by the Parks and Recreation Association of Sag Harbor, a private nonprofit, not the village. The association started its renovation effort in early 2016, asked Sag Harbor Elementary students for design ideas, and hired Kompan. 27east reported that construction began on October 9, 2018. By early December of that year, the park said the playground was nearly finished. Later 27east coverage described the finished project as a $375,000 rebuild.
East Hampton's $1.7 million estimate, made eight years later, is more than four times that 2018 figure, for a design split across roughly 28,600 square feet of play space. The comparison also shows how funding differs. Sag Harbor's playground was a nonprofit project. East Hampton's is a village project, and the money is still being raised.
Why the Hearing Will Cover More Than Swings
Baladron said $250,000 has been raised so far. That is roughly 15 percent of the estimate, leaving about $1.45 million to go. The village has built other parts of the park with private help before. The East Hampton Village Foundation presented a check for more than $1 million at the Phase 1A groundbreaking on March 17, 2023. That phase added ADA paths and connecting sidewalks, three tennis courts and renovated softball fields, and it was finished before the 2023 summer season.
The plans have changed more than once. In 2019, the previous village administration had a plan for the whole park from the LaGuardia Design Group, developed with a committee that included the Police Department and the Ladies Village Improvement Society, and vetted at a public hearing. After the 2020 election, that plan was set aside. When a new concept appeared in 2024, The Star's editorial board called it "Deja Vu City." The paper noted that it put the basketball courts to the left of the Newtown Lane entrance and the playground to the right, much as the 2019 plan had. The same editorial said the Roy Lee Mabry Memorial Basketball Courts had gone in before the plan was final. It also said the pickleball courts, first placed near the LVIS end of the park, had drawn a lawsuit from neighbors worried about noise and light.
That history is already shaping the response. In The Star's October 29 letters page, one resident opposed the playground's size and equipment. The writer pointed to summer traffic in the village center and asked for a quiet, grassy place where adults can sit outside. A second letter asked the village for a full accounting of Herrick Park spending since 2020. It cited $37,500 paid for the LaGuardia plan and nearly $100,000 in change orders on a bathroom renovation first projected at about $600,000.
The November and December hearings will put the design and its funding before the public together, with most of the $1.7 million still to be raised.
The Calendar From Here
- Friday, November 20, 11 a.m.: The Board of Trustees holds its November meeting at Village Hall, 1 Cedar Street. This is the meeting Baladron named for the first public hearing.
- December board meeting: The second hearing Baladron described.
- March to May 2027: The projected construction window.
- May 29, 2027: A tentative ribbon-cutting on Memorial Day weekend.
If that schedule holds, construction will take up the spring months around the playground, and the new equipment will open just as summer traffic returns to Newtown Lane. Residents who want to comment can find meeting details and contact information for the Mayor's office on the village's November 20 meeting page.
A park that hosts fairs, ball games and recess can shape the daily routine of the streets around it. If you live near Herrick Park and want to talk through what changes there could mean for your block, from spring construction to busier summer weekends, Michael Petersohn is glad to sit down with you. Request a Personal Market Consultation.
