WARREN, Maine — A plan to build a treehouse at a town park was cut down when the municipality’s insurance company said it was too great a risk.
The plan for a treehouse at Payson Park off Route 90 was proposed by the Payson Park Committee in June. Joan Winchenbach of the Park Committee said that the family of a resident who died earlier this year had asked that in lieu of flowers friends and relatives donate money to the park. That request generated $3,000 in donations, Winchenbach said.
The park committee later chose to use the money for a treehouse and met in June with selectmen to present their plans.
Following that meeting, however, the town’s insurance through the Maine Municipal Association recommended against the construction of a tree house, citing liability concerns.
As a result, selectmen voted unanimously on Aug. 6 to not approve construction of the treehouse in the town park.
Winchenbach said she was disappointed with the decision, saying that the structure was going to be built securely and would have had slats that would allow people to see inside so that nothing inappropriate would occur. There would have been a pole similar to those in firehouses so that children could slide down, she said.
“It was a cute idea. What we had come up with was safe,” she said.
Michael York, chairman of the Warren Board of Selectmen, said the board would have loved to approve the plan but the risk was too great. He said officials checked with both the town’s insurer and town attorney before the board voted.
“This was a great idea but it would have opened the town up to too much liability,” York said.
The Park Committee is now looking to recommend that a playhouse on the ground be constructed.
Winchenbach said that proposal is being developed and is “still up in the air.”