$130,000 raised by teachers, parents and the Danbury community for a handicap-accessible playground at Pembroke Elementary School will be matched by the City.  The City Council accepted the donation last night and agreed to allocate $140,000 from a previously approved recreation bond to meet the needed amount.  If more donations to the project are received, the City could lower its contribution. 

The Department of Public Works will provide labor for this project and plans to have it completed this fall.  The City's Finance Director did not have an estimate of how much that would costing, noting there is a lot of volunteer work that will be done. Some Council members questioned using open space bond money for this purpose, but were reminded that it's an open space and recreation bond.

Special needs teacher Leigh Viviano led the fundraising initiative to addressed repair needs, and bring an ADA compliant playground to students with special needs--so they could have a safe place to play. 

The playground will be available to the public after school hours and on weekends.