After numerous residents inquired about the status of the Overlook Park Splash Pad in Ridgefield during a previous Community Focus article inquiry by The Reflector in May, the city issued a statement on Friday, June 13.
“We are giving the contractor one final chance to deliver this project by July 25,” the city of Ridgefield stated.
The Reflector initially requested information regarding the splash pad and its inoperable status on May 13 but was told an update would be available by the end of the month of May. Once May was in the rearview mirror, a pair of the hottest days of the year saw no use of the splash pad. Then, an update and construction fence wrapped around the splash pad once more. With a deadline of July 25 on the horizon for the contractor, a vast majority of early summer days will go without the enjoyment a splash pad brings to a community.
“When we started building the Overlook Park Splash Pad, we imagined the joy it would bring to families spending time in the heart of our downtown each summer,” the city said in its statement. “Unfortunately, ongoing complications stemming from the original construction have been a continued source of frustration for city council, staff, and our community.”
The statement added that city staff have worked to both pursue legal action against the original contractor, and to bring in professionals to diagnose the issues that have prevented it from opening. The Splash Pad has a recirculating system, similar to a pool, meaning that the water is collected, treated and sent back through the system, the city stated.
“The ongoing issue has been the system’s failure to maintain safe chlorine levels,” the city stated. “Despite various attempts to produce a working project, the contractor was unable to deliver, and the city terminated their contract last fall. Our own investigation identified leaks throughout the pipe system that are likely causing the system not to function. The water loss throws off the balance of sanitizing treatments, and the system automatically shuts off to maintain user safety.”
According to the statement, the contractor has identified a program of repairs they believe will result in an operational splash pad, without requiring reconstruction.
“If they can produce a feature that meets public health requirements, the Splash Pad will open this summer,” the city stated. “If their fix does not work, our remaining option will be to complete demolition of the existing pad, repair the leaks and rebuild. If we end up in the demo and rebuild process, the splash pad will not open for the 2025 season.”
Matt Cole, mayor of Ridgefield, said in an interview with The Reflector that the city gave the contractor a lot of opportunities to respond and resolve the issues. In April 2023, the city anticipated that the splash pad would be completed in early July 2023. The last update to the two-year woes was previously provided to the community in August 2024.
“Nobody’s more frustrated than I think myself and the rest of council and all the staff on it because this is something that you start really optimistic (about). There’s a lot of excitement about it,” Cole said. “We had a lot of community engagement on it. Like, people were really excited.”
Cole said that the project has been years in the making, adding that it was a topic before his current three-year tenure on council.
“I remember two years ago having conversations about it, like, ‘Hey, can we get it done this summer?’ And it never happened,” Cole said. “And then last summer I was like, ‘Hey, are we going to get it done this summer? What is it going to take to do that?’ And I’m a parent of kids. I have kids who would really benefit from that and so, naturally, you’re like, ‘Hey, I want to see this done. What’s going on here?’”
Regardless of the ultimate solution, the original contractor will be paying for all repair work, the city added in its statement to the community.
“We know this project has been a huge disappointment for our community, and we hoped to have better news to share today,” the city stated. “We look forward to celebrating with you when the repaired splash pad opens.”
