Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 20, 1995                   TAG: 9501200100
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium

WOOD PLAYGROUNDS TOO RISKY TO KEEP

Fairfax has begun bulldozing 16 wooden playgrounds, with ladders, swings, poles and other gear.

No serious injuries are blamed on the wooden structures, but they were a legal liability and a constant headache because of the fear that rotten beams or other perils might cause an accident, officials said.

``It was not worth it, simple as that,'' said Wayne Ridgeway, project manager for Fairfax schools.

The playgrounds were built nearly for free beginning in 1980, using donated lumber and volunteer elbow grease.

They were designed by a New York design firm that worked with local PTAs or other groups to draft plans and organize the construction.

Fairfax was among the first localities nationally to install the equipment, which became extremely popular in the late 1980s.

``It was kind of nice, like a throwback to the old barn-raising idea of community involvement,'' Ridgeway said.

But once in place, the structures were far from free. Although Fairfax didn't keep a precise ledger, the school system has spent thousands trying to maintain the wooden playgrounds, Ridgeway said.

In one case, the county spent $15,000 in one year to keep up with repairs at one school playground.

Fairfax stopped buying the wooden equipment several years ago because of mounting maintenance costs.

The school board in Fairfax, the state's largest school system with nearly 90 elementary schools, voted last year to do away with the wooden equipment.

The county has gotten rid of seven playgrounds and will demolish the rest within a few months, Ridgeway said.

In place of the wooden playgrounds will be prefabricated metal and fiberglass structures that cost about $40,000 apiece.