The Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) has presented plans for a new playground at the Sherwood Recreation Center, just off H Street NE.
There's currently no playground there, but there is a large parking lot that is "under-utilized," according to a DPR
presentation. The neighboring School-Within-School (SWS) has a playground, but it's old and small. So as part of the PlayDC program, the big parking lot will become a new playground, available to SWS during school hours, and the old SWS playground will be razed to form a smaller parking lot.
The firmed-up plans depict a "mound" that children can climb on, surrounded by a rain garden, native plants, and of course playground equipment for all ages.
Over half of the playground will be natural space (trees or other native plants) at the request of the community, and a small "seat wall" area forms an outdoor classroom for SWS students to learn about nature.
Construction is estimated to begin in spring 2014.
PlayDC is a multi-year effort to renovate 40 of the District's playgrounds. Over 20 so far have been completed.