After years of effort, Clintonville Elementary School is finally poised to receive a new playground thanks to state funding, replacing an old, rusty and frequently-flooded recess area.

Town officials announced last week that North Haven will receive two Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grants, totaling $281,370, and $188,000 will go toward Clintonville’s project.

“I started screaming when I got the news,” said Kathleen Kessler, mother of a Clintonville student and a member of Clintonville’s Playground Committee, formed last year by 40 individuals to seek finances. “My child thought I had gone insane.”

“When she called me, she was so excited that I thought she had won $188,000 herself,” said fellow mother and Playground Committee member Kim Doheny.

Clintonville’s play equipment is cracked, stained, broken and unsafe. Poor drainage leaves behind massive puddles for days following even light rainfall, making it impossible to use the playground until drying is complete.

Doheny believed STEAP money would come in around January 2011. “It’s technically considered a 2011 grant,” she said.

Resources will cover general design requirements, site work and excavation, preparation and demolition, drainage improvements, purchase and installation of play structures and amenities, paving, installation of fencing and associated landscaping.

Playground Committee members were not yet sure of project scheduling. “When the grant money comes in, we’ll have a better timetable,” Kessler said. “We’re meeting with Public Works in two weeks to go over the process. Things will have to go out to bid.”

In 2009, Kessler estimated $60,000 would cover Clintonville’s expenses. A Ridge Road group recently replaced their school playground for $70,000.

Receiving such a large lump sum, as opposed to gradual fundraising planned by the Playground Committee, avoids a multi-phase build. “Now we can do all the phases at once,” said Playground Committee member Lorrie Desorbo.

Additionally, original proposals shifted playground construction to ball fields behind Clintonville, where land drained better. “It’s going to go on the same spot now,” Kessler said. “The grant is going to be able to fix the drainage problems. That’s a lot of money that we couldn’t have raised ourselves.”

Keeping the playground in front of Clintonville will help security. “It will be in view from the street,” Kessler said. “Police driving by can see that no teenagers are hanging out there.”

To accomplish similar ends, fencing will be installed around playground parameters, as none currently exists. “It will decrease vandalism,” Kessler said.

Building will also include an outside classroom, composed of arranged seating outdoors. “Everybody in the school can benefit from that,” Kessler said.

Kessler said design and planning firm Diversified Technology Consultants, of Hamden, helped the Playground Committee with STEAP grant-writing last spring, pro bono. Fundraising by Doheny formed the original connection.

“We were contacted by Shay Altura, a Clintonville alumnus, whose father is the president of Diversified Technology Consultants,” Kessler said. “Shay’s daughter was part of a soccer clinic put on by Kim to raise money for the playground. That’s how Shay got word of it.”

Last July, the grant application was sent to Town Hall for review and approval by First Selectman Michael Freda, Director of Public Works Lynn Sadosky and Town Engineer Jonathan Bodwell. North Haven’s administrators then submitted the paperwork.

Freda called Sept. 28 with good news. “He was really excited,” Kessler said. “He was really happy for us.”

In a press release disseminated Sept. 29, Freda said, “The new playground will provide the Clintonville Elementary School students with an area suitable for recess during their school day that encourages students to be physically active and to interact with one another improving their socialization skills.”

Kessler, Doheny and Desorbo were thankful for support received. “There have been so many people within the community who have helped out – neighbors, State Representatives and Senators, Michael Freda, Public Works,” Kessler said. “We’ve even had people from Woodbridge send in money.”

“Kids, too. Faculty, parents, so many people wanted to make this happen,” Kessler added. “We want to thank all the local restaurants that donated to our wine tasting fundraiser. It’s truly been a community effort.”

Student reaction was raucous. “The day that [Clintonville Principal Lauretta] Dowling announced it over the loudspeaker, the kids started cheering, she told me,” Kessler said. “You could hear the kids throughout the whole school.”

“I got chills when she told me that,” Doheny said.

On top of STEAP grant funds, the Playground Committee has already raised $22,000.

An informal celebration will be held Oct. 24 at Clintonville’s playground. For committee members, it represents achievement at the end of a long road.

“When we started this process, so many people said, ‘Your kids are not going to play on the new playground,’” she said. “And now they’re going to do it.”

“The Playground Committee’s saying used to be, ‘If we build it, they will play,’” Doheny said. “Now, it’s ‘When we build it, they will play.’”