The shuttered playground at Marine Park.
The Marine Park playground will get all new equipment and fencing under a plan greenlighted last night by the Red Bank Borough Council.
Installation of the new gear will start in March, Parks & Rec Director Bob Evans told the council. On completion, all three of the town’s playgrounds will have been refurbished, he said, noting that the Count Basie Fields playground replacement is scheduled to be finished this week.
“After this, no playground in the borough will be more than two years old,” Evans said.
The Marine Park plan calls for the removal of all existing equipment and the sandbox. They’ll be replaced by two sets of climbing and playing apparatus: a larger one for kids aged 7 to 12 and a smaller area for the younger ones.
Councilman John Curley said the gear would cost the borough $36,022. All but about $900 of the cost will be covered by grant money already in hand, he said.
There was no immediate word on how a riverfront bulkhead replacement project planned for Marine Park in mid-summer would affect access to the play area. Officials had previously indicated that the playground would have to be closed during that work.
Evans’ pitch went a lot more smoothly for him than a presentation he gave in October on the Count Basie Field project. At that session, he found himself subject to an intensive grilling by officials over safety conditions and communications with the governing body.
