Days before ribbon-cutting, sinkhole opens at new North Little Rock playground; future of area uncertain

City postpones opening of area for special-needs children

Wooden boards cover a sinkhole that has delayed the grand opening of a newly built playground for special-needs children at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
Wooden boards cover a sinkhole that has delayed the grand opening of a newly built playground for special-needs children at Burns Park in North Little Rock.

A sinkhole beneath a just-completed, quarter-million-dollar playground for special-needs children in North Little Rock's Burns Park has caused the playground's immediate future to be uncertain, city Parks and Recreation Director Terry Hartwick said Friday.

Just days away from the scheduled ribbon-cutting Tuesday of the One Heart Playground, the area is taped off, and a good portion of the playground's foundation is covered with boards to cover a hole as much as 3 feet deep over an area about 12 feet long and 15 feet wide.

"I'm just sick," Hartwick said Friday afternoon after pushing his foot along the edge of the sinkhole, making the rubber surface sink by several inches. "It was to be a special park for special-needs children."

Workers noticed depressions late Wednesday beneath the playground's poured-in rubber surface, said Hartwick, who inspected the sinkhole Thursday. When workers then cut into the $90,000 surface covering, a hole about 3 feet deep became visible, he said.

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Postponement of Tuesday's grand opening was announced Friday. The One Heart Playground is on the north side of Funland Drive, just east of the Funland amusement rides.

All of the playground equipment has been installed, but it is now closed to the public until further notice for safety reasons.

"This was all complete," Hartwick said motioning toward the special-made slides and other equipment.

A geo-technical engineer will assess the playground's foundation and evaluate options, Mayor Joe Smith said.

"There's no apparent reason for it happening," Smith said. "Our city engineer is on top of it, too. We don't know what we'll do next. It's still a little premature to know."

The city's first all-access, "all-inclusive" playground has been a project of Hartwick's that he began after meeting last year with 4-year-old Emma Wasson, a child who has a congenital heart defeat and Turner's syndrome -- which causes a variety of medical and developmental problems.

Her parents, Kenny and Jerilyn Wasson, told Hartwick that Emma couldn't enjoy other playgrounds because of her condition.

The new playground has been paid for through private contributions, Hartwick said.

"This is something that a lot of people have put a lot of time and effort into," Hartwick said. "Lots and lots of families contributed. I thought it was something the city needed."

Sinkholes have caused problems in recent years in Burns Park and elsewhere in North Little Rock.

Most notably, sinkholes as large as 35 feet in diameter and 6 feet deep opened in the outfield of the Dickey-Stephens Park baseball stadium near the Arkansas River downtown in late 2015 after smaller sinkholes had occurred on the playing surface since the park's opening on 2007. Those have since been repaired.

In 2011, sinkholes delayed the completion of seven American Legion ball fields constructed in Burns Park.

A large sinkhole also appeared near the city-owned Riverside RV Park near the downtown Interstate 30 river bridge within the past year is still "in the process of being repaired," North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Bob Major said Friday.

Metro on 06/10/2017

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