The city has received a county grant to surface two play areas with recycled tire materials.
The $20,000 grant will be used to resurface sand flooring at the Margate Sports Complex with SportsTurf, a crumb rubber safety surface made of ground tire pieces.
It will be used to create playground flooring of a new city park on 9 acres at the corner of Rock Island Road and Holiday Springs Boulevard.
The park is expected to be completed by October 1996.
Fort Lauderdale recently covered a jogging path at Holiday Park with SportsTurf, a surface which minimizes dust and mud and provides shock absorbency for falls.
Tire flooring is popular for playgrounds because it provides a cool, resilient surface that doesn’t need to be replaced often.
SportsTurf has also been installed at a playground at Merrill United Methodist Church in Fort Lauderdale.
“This is a better material, so it’s better for the users,” said Emilio Esteban, Margate’s director of environmental and engineering services. “It will be softer… [and) better for the kids – they won’t have sand in their shoes and it’s easier to maintain.”
Doug Drennen, spokesman for the county’s waste tire program, said the county divided a $483,014 state grant among 12 cities interested in waste tire recycling projects.
He said 35 cities had applied for grants.
North Lauderdale, for example, was turned down for a $300,000 grant to fix the soccer fields at Highland Park and the North Lauderdale Elementary School field.
