Council approves second phase of park landscaping after designer presentation; playground budget range debated

The Fairfield Town Council approved the second phase of design work for the town park on Jan. 21 after a presentation from landscape designer Dustin Hissle.

Hissle walked the council through an overall site plan and 3‑D images showing a perimeter trail, pickleball courts, playground connections, a pavilion with restrooms and storage, multiuse open fields and potential orchards or native‑plant areas. "I've created this overall site plan and then a bunch of 3 d images," Hissle said as he reviewed the concept and phased approach.

Council members confirmed the town had secured a $400,000 grant that paid for remediation and much of the walking‑path work. Council discussed playground options and replacement/maintenance tradeoffs for surfacing; members gave a wide range of ballpark figures, with discussion centering on a $100,000 starting budget and council estimates up to about $150,000 including installation and ground work. One council member said, "I think we're going to be 150,000 ish to get it done, get it installed, get the floor." Another suggested starting with $100,000 and expanding later.

Separately, a council member proposed spending $2,500 to develop a heritage/interpretive plan for the park — a schematic that would identify locations for signs, QR‑linked stories and small exhibits to tell Camp Floyd and local history. The proposer said the $2,500 would fund a small team to create an organized history plan and sample signage to be presented to the council.

The council voted to authorize the second landscaping phase (within the previously authorized $13,600 lump sum, with earlier phase credits applied) and asked Hissle to prepare a detailed plant list, irrigation design and phased cost estimates, and to return with clearer budget numbers for the playground and the proposed heritage plan.

What happens next: Hissle will produce the more detailed plan documents and a proposed scope and cost breakdown for the $2,500 history plan; the town attorney and staff will finalize easements and coordinate budgets for construction and playground procurement.