Swings will soon return to downtown’s Playground of Dreams
Swings will be installed at the Playground of Dreams on First Street in Benicia within the next six weeks. The historic wooden play structure at the downtown park requires major restoration work that won't likely begin until 2030.
Restoration of Benicia's historic park will likely begin in 2030. The City says it remains committed to upholding the look and feel of the park as far as current state codes allow
Swings are expected to return to downtown’s Playground of Dreams in the next six weeks. The new, donated equipment will be the first swings at the City Park in five years, said Dan Smith of the local nonprofit Benicia Friends of the Playground. Smith was speaking at Tuesday’s City Hall meeting.
City Manager Mario Guiliani confirmed the timeframe shortly before the meeting, Smith told community and council members at City Hall last week. Benicia Friends of the Playground purchased the $6,000 set in 2025 with donations. The equipment, however, has been languishing at the Corp Yard for two months as the City waits on a certified installer in line with state laws.
Meanwhile, the popular and beloved Playground of Dreams requires major restoration work. Although recently approved annual resident fees will help fund this, work is unlikely to start until 2030, according to Giuliani.
New annual fees set to fund park upgrades
“Someone may ask, ‘Well, why don’t we just come out this weekend and install swings?’” said Giuliani, explaining the installation delay. “There have been significant state laws changes that regulate playgrounds and we see that when we go to parks and features have been removed — they no longer meet certain [accessibility] or fall requirements.”
The City has identified needed maintenance and upgrades to local parks in its latest 2021 Parks, Trails and Open Space Master Plan. Improvements will be funded through dedicated fees approved in October 2025, as part of the Parks, Landscape, and Lighting Assessment District (PLLAD).
Only about 14% of Benicians (3,845) voted on whether the city would adopt the fee; the measure passed by 52.88% of weighted ballots, according to the City.
Benicians will now pay between about $42 to $208 a year to help maintain infrastructure, such as city parks, trails and street lights. Fees are determined by property type and proximity to parks.
The fees come into effect in August 2026, Giuliani said, meaning that funds won’t be available until at least August 2027.
Playground of Dreams designed by local children
A gateway to this historic downtown, Benicia’s City Park was originally landscaped by the same architect as San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, according to Smith. In 1992, local schoolchildren helped conceive the Playground of Dreams, submitting drawings that Robert S. Leathers used to design the structure.
“[Children] said they wanted the things that all kids dream of,” Smith said, “a castle with towers, a fire engine, an airplane, a tractor, a choo choo train, but also unusual things like racing slides and a dragon slide.”
He continued: “Over the course of a year, 3,000 Benicians donated their blood, sweat, tears, tools, meals, and other contributions to make it come true.”
Will the wooden, mazed castle remain?
More than 30 years later, Guilani said it will take a considerable investment to restore the iconic, wooden play structure. In a presentation, Smith and others from Benicia Friends of the Playground outlined benefits such as safety and sustainability of maintaining the playground‘s original wooden design during renovations and foregoing the heavy use of plastic, for instance.
“It’s certainly the City of Benicia’s intent to maintain [the playground] as it was, as best as possible again,” said Guilani, adding that public comment would likely take place before any restorations begin. “Again, as we highlighted during the Parks Commission meetings, we have to make sure that we honor state codes. There are certain things that you were able to do 30 years ago, that you can’t do now — and so I think you’re going to see a combo of different elements.”
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