Redondo Beach cuts the ribbon on its first all-accessible play space at 3 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, at Franklin Park, 807 S. Inglewood Avenue. The city says the playground was designed for children of all abilities.

The new playground fills the same small footprint as the old one. A working group chose what went into it, and the way it was funded left about $180,000 for the rest of Franklin Park.

The Same Small Footprint, Built to a New Brief

The old Franklin Park playground sat on about 2,390 square feet of poured rubber surfacing. The new one covers the same area. GameTime's contract with the city calls for tearing out roughly 2,390 square feet of existing safety surfacing and pouring roughly 2,390 square feet of new surfacing in its place. When the City Council reviewed the design in December 2025, Community Services Director Elizabeth Hause put it plainly, as Patch reported: "It's not a very big space." Staff had about 2,400 square feet to work with.

That limit shaped the whole process. Community Services staff and Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic, whose district includes Franklin Park, brought together a stakeholder group that met for several months. According to the April 21, 2026 council staff report, it included park users, occupational therapists and other developmental professionals, parents and family members of children with disabilities who use the park, a representative from the Friendship Foundation, and Public Amenities Commissioners Lang, Caldwell and Galassi from the Franklin Park Playground Subcommittee. Their brief was a play space with enough variety to appeal to children of all abilities, designed to make the most of a limited site.

Hause also told the council that staff brought in a "playologist" to explain what the space needed, according to Patch. She said the design still fit "almost all of the amenities that the working group wanted to include in this space."

What Fits in 2,390 Square Feet

The council approved the final design on December 2, 2025. The main structure has low-level ramping, slides, a platform rocker, climbers and sensory boards. Standalone pieces line the perimeter "to fit as many engaging pieces in the area as possible," in the staff report's words: a spinner, sensory panels with chimes, and a colorful shadow-casting feature.

The contract gets more specific. It describes a GameTime system for ages 5 to 12, and its equipment list reads like a map of the finished playground:

• Duo Spinner, the perimeter spinner from the approved design
• Harmonic Chimes, a set of seven, plus separate Cantata Chimes and Melody Chimes
• Sensory Ring and an Emotions Insert
• Shadow Play Flower, the shadow-casting piece
• Communication Board
• Two Abacus Enclosures
• Franklin Rock n Raft, a piece named for the park itself
• Five Playcast Crown and five Playcast Paws post attachments

The sound pieces stand out. The design has three separate sets of chimes, which makes sound one of the main ways to play here, alongside climbing and sliding. Hause described these to the council as "auditory play spaces," Patch reported.

The crowns and paws are a thank-you. The LA Kings Foundation gave $75,000 toward the project, and Hause said the structure would carry "an interactive scavenger hunt around the plate area" with crowns and paw prints for the team's mascot, Bailey, per Patch. Underneath it all is GT Impax poured rubber made from recycled material: a 1.5-inch cushion layer topped by a half-inch wear layer, two inches thick in all.

Paid For by People Building Elsewhere in Town

At the December 2025 meeting, Councilmember Zein Obagi confirmed with staff that the project's original funding came from Quimby funds, not the city's discretionary money. "Quimby funds are specifically designated for enhancing open space, and they're funded by new development fees that are collected when people build in the city," he said, according to Patch. The city's adopted capital budget files the project, CIP No. 30970, under its Subdivision Park Trust funding.

Two outside contributions then brought the cost down:

The grant came from the California Parks and Recreation Society and GameTime through their Statewide Healthy Play Initiative. The program funds projects by CPRS member agencies as National Demonstration Sites, with priority on inclusion, nature integration, physical activity and adult fitness. Obagi's reaction at the December meeting, as Patch reported it: "'Under budget.' How often do we hear that for a project and grant money at that? So bravo."

The two cost figures in the table come from different stages and use different labels, so treat them separately. The more useful number comes from the April staff report. Between the original allocation, the grant and the Kings donation, about $180,000 of the project budget could go toward "other park improvements." The report doesn't say what those improvements are. The one earlier upgrade it mentions near the play area is the replacement of the shade structures next to it.

A Later Opening Than First Planned

The opening came later than first planned. In December 2025, Patch reported the playground was expected to open in summer 2026. The April contract set substantial completion for September 30, 2026. The contract's own timeline allowed 12 weeks for GameTime to build the equipment after the go-ahead, one to two weeks of demolition once it arrived, and three weeks for installation and surfacing. The city's official opening is set for November 5.

A Park Around the Playground

The playground is the newest thing at Franklin Park, but the city's park page lists more: two courts shared by basketball and pickleball, two shuffleboard courts, restrooms and picnic areas. The courts are first come, first served on posted schedules. The park also has two designated moon bounce areas, each split into morning and afternoon blocks you can reserve with a permit through the city's recreation facilities page.

The neighbor matters too. The staff report notes that the Friendship Foundation, which had a seat in the design group, is building a facility next to the park to serve individuals with special needs. That puts Redondo's first all-abilities playground right beside a facility built around services for people with special needs.

Councilmember Brad Waller told the council last December that the playground is "something that can help set us apart," Patch reported. The ribbon-cutting starts at 3 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, at 807 S. Inglewood Avenue. The city credits the LA Kings Foundation, the California Parks and Recreation Society and GameTime for helping make the project possible. The city hasn't published a plan yet for the roughly $180,000 left over for other park improvements.

If you want to know how projects like Franklin Park change a block, from playgrounds and park upgrades to the facility going up next door, California Collective is glad to walk the area with you. Book a curated neighborhood consultation and we'll start at the chimes.