Playing Smart changelabsolutions.org | kaboom.org 24 In keeping with its culture of collaborative decision-making, the city took three years to create the memorandum of understanding (MOU). The process of meeting with HOAs, community members, and council members was “long, intense, and complicated,” says assistant city manager David Moran, but it created MOUs that are “still working out very well.” One of the smartest decisions, he said, was hammering out agreements at an administrative level with people who do the actual playground maintenance. They made sure that each agreement addressed things unique to each playground – a particular type of fencing or signage, for example. The updated agreement was modeled after the 1987 joint use agreement, but more comprehensively addressed insurance and liability concerns. It also detailed cost-sharing. The city covers 75 percent of anticipated costs for new equipment, new surfacing materials, and periodic replenishment of surfacing, and the HOA covers 25 percent. The HOA is solely responsible for landscaping, trash, lighting, fencing, and benches. The agreements have encouraged HOAs to invest their own funds in the play spaces. For example, one HOA invested just a few thousand dollars in the two decades before the joint use agreements. Since the agreements, the HOA has spent more than $150,000. The HOAs are pleased with the joint use agreements. The city was intentionally designed so that clusters of homes basically surround an HOA’s playground. But even given this development pattern, anyone who might want to use another HOA’s playground – for whatever reason – can now do so. “The city gets upgraded playgrounds with access for everyone, and it’s a pretty good deal for the HOAs, which contributes to its success,” Moran says. “You don’t have people griping when you’re offering them a 75 percent grant program. They find a way to make it work.” Here is the generic agreement language the city uses to establish the joint use agreements with the HOAs: PLAYGROUND USE AND MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT This AGREEMENT is made this _____ day of ______________ by and between the City of Greenbelt, Maryland, a body corporate and politic in the State of Maryland (hereinafter “City”) and _______________________________________ (hereinafter Playground Owner). Excerpt
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