Monday’s Annual Town Meeting showed support for an adaptive playground to be located at Marathon School. PHOTO/JOHN CARDILLO

An adaptive playground at Marathon Elementary School now will be funded through free cash and Community Preservation funds following a vote at Annual Town Meeting on Monday night.

The funding approval is the next step of a process that began in 2024 to develop a playground in Hopkinton that is “accessible to people of all abilities,” according to Susan Rothermich, assistant superintendent for finance and operations for Hopkinton Public Schools. 

During a presentation on the funding article, Rothermich explained the Adaptive Playground Committee evaluated 198 town-owned parcels using a number of criteria before unanimously landing on a site at Marathon School.

Once finished, the playground will feature poured-in-place rubber surfacing, ground-level play areas and elements that are accessible to all children who wish to use them.

Article 24 on the Town Meeting warrant requested $943,000 be allocated from available free cash toward the project. A motion under Article 26, which also passed, allocated an additional $300,000 from Community Preservation funds to bring the total funding to $1.2 million.

Ken Weismantel, chair of the Community Preservation Committee, said his committee supported the article. Saying that CPCs across Massachusetts have worked on approving similar projects, he commended Rothermich and the Adaptive Playground Committee for their work on the project.

However, Weismantel noted that the CPC was offering only a portion of the total cost of the playground due to its location. He said his committee would have funded more of the project if a site other than a school had been chosen.

In December 2024, the CPC reached a compromise on how much money it was prepared to allocate for the project. Members took the position that the playground was a school project because it would be located on school grounds, and full public access would be limited during the school year.

In his remarks at Town Meeting, Weismantel concluded: “We figured our $300,000 is what we’re paying for on the weekends when school is not in session.”

During open discussion, other town officials voiced their support for the adaptive playground project. Commission on Disability chair Holly Morand voiced her group’s support for the article, and Select Board member Shahidul Mannan, speaking as a citizen, encouraged residents to approve the funding.

Capital Improvement Committee chair Matt Kizner, whose committee had voted not to recommend the project, spoke on his own behalf about the playground’s feasibility in the town’s current economic environment.

“What I would want to suggest to you is: It’s going to get a little harder to do stuff like this in the years coming up,” said Kizner.

“Try and view this one a little more holistically,” Kizner added. “It is a pretty small number, all things considered.”

Several residents asked clarifying questions about the playground’s availability during and outside of school hours. Some, like Simone Carter, also advocated for features that would accommodate adults.

“Is there a way to make this more inclusive to seniors?” Carter asked, suggesting features such as water stations. Rothermich said that while these were not part of the current design, they could be added in.

The majority of comments during open discussion favored passing the article. Beth Malloy voiced opposition, calling the project a “fiscally irresponsible ask.”

Pointing to the inaccessibility of the playground much of the year due to its location on school grounds, Malloy suggested the free cash would be better allocated to projects accessible to all residents. She specifically mentioned improvements to the Main Street entrance of the Hopkinton Public Library, which the CPC declined to recommend for funding earlier this year.

After a motion to call the question was made, the article was put up for a vote and passed 125-41.