ALMOST TIME FOR ROCK AND ROPE- One of three new play areas at Conejo Community Park will include a rock and rope climbing attraction for children ages 5 to 12, shown in the above model. Readers with keen eyes may be able to discern the images of children climbing on the ropes. The new playground areas are expected to open in October at the park at Dover and Hendrix avenues. Conejo Community Park is getting three new playground areas at a cost of about $550,000 to replace the old playground that's been there more than 30 years.

Not only is the location of the old playground now considered hazardous, but its equipment no longer meets CRPD's standards, according to Jim Friedl, general manager of Conejo Recreation and Park District.

Friedl wasn't sure exactly when the equipment was installed in the 27-acre park on Hendrix Avenue in Thousand Oaks. CRPD acquired the park from the county in 1972, and Friedl remembers playing on it himself as a boy, he said.

The playground is right next to the park entrance, separated from the driveway by a short wall.

"Cars come in off Hendrix and drive right at the playground, so we thought rather than just replace the old playground equipment, we could put the play area in a better spot," Friedl said.

In addition, the play area was located under some mature oak tree branches that fill up with water in the dry summer months and occasionally fall to the ground, he said.

"We are aware oak trees drop limbs in late summer, but that was not the main reason we moved the playground- just one factor," Friedl said. "I wouldn't worry about picnicking under an oak tree with my family, and I don't want people to become overly concerned about that."

After talking to people who work at the Conejo Community Center and are at the site every day, park district planners learned the unlighted basketball court in the park was underused, Friedl said.

"Less than a quarter-mile away, Redwood Middle School has eight or nine lighted basketball courts," Friedl noted.

"So the basketball, the shuffleboard and the horseshoe areas have been removed from the park to make way for a swing set area, a tot lot for children ages 2 to 5, and a playground for older children ages 5 to 12," said project manager Shauna Welty, CRPD planner.

The new playground area will have a natural climbing theme, with rubber and manufactured wood chip surfaces. The hope is that it will be completed by the end of September or early October, Welty said.