By Erica JacksonOn any given day of the summer, local kids can be found cooling off at the Town of Smithtown’s splash park at Hoyt Farm in Commack. Parents sit in the shade as their children frolic though a maze of sprinklers that spit and dump water. The park has become so popular that the Town of Smithtown has decided to construct two more similar parks.
“We found we needed splash parks at the other ends of town,” said Chuck Barrett, deputy director of the town’s park department.
The first of the new splash parks is located on the grounds of the Nesconset Armory, which will also soon be home to the new Nesconset Library. The splash park, says Barrett, has been up and running now for about a month.
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The new splash park sits among several sports fields, a playground, a roller hockey rink, and skateboard area. While the new splash park is not as large as the one at Hoyt Farm or has as many structures that dump water, it still brings in the kids, says Barrett.
According to Barrett, the town opted not to replicate the Hoyt Farm splash pad at Nesconset because of a fear of vandalism. Barrett explained that Hoyt Farm is “more secure” than the Nesconset park. Aside from being fenced in, Hoyt Farm also houses a tenant who keeps watch over the grounds.
Still, the Nesconset splash pad cost the town $45,000. Funded through the parks department budget, the splash park was constructed by the town’s parks department employees with the splash mechanisms purchased from a Missouri-based aquatics company.
The park itself, said Barrett uses 180 gallons of water a minute at full-capasity. However, the park is equipped with mechanisms that only release water when children press them, setting off a sequence of water splashes. While the water can not be reused without a filtering system, Barrett said is sent though a piping system to irrigate a portion of the grounds at the park.
The same is expected to be done at the town’s third water park, which is currently being constructed in Moriches Road in St. James. That park will be ready for next summer and will be similar to the Nesconset splash pad. The cost for that park is expected to me the same as the Nesconset Park — $45,000.
Aside from the splash pad, the St. James park also features new synthetic fields that the town purchased for $650,000. The fields says Barrett, require no town maintenance are are expected to last long past their 8-year warranty period.
“All the school districts are starting to install the synthetic fields as well,” said Barrett. “While it is a substantial cost in the long run there is no maintenance.” Especially on the soccer fields, noted Barrett. Those fields, he said, require constant maintenance.
In other park news, the town, in conjunction with the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce, recently constructed a new pocket park in Kings Park. It features pavers, benches and a kiosk. “People can now sit down and enjoy the town with friends,” said Barrett. In addition, the town recently installed a playground at the former St. Anthony property on St. Johnland Road. Barrett does not expect that much more will be added to that park, he said, “We are limited to what we can do there because it was purchased as open space.”