After scrapping a controversial plan for a “spray pad” in a children’s play area at Bellhaven Natural Area two years ago, Red Bank officials plan to unveil a new plan for the site next week.
At this week’s semimonthly council session, Councilman Erik Yngstrom said the Parks and Rec Committee he oversees will hold a public unveiling of new plans for the 1.25-acre site, located on the Swimming River at the western end of Locust Avenue.
The event is scheduled for 5 p,m. Wednesday at borough hall.
“They took a lot of the complaints and criticisms of their last plan and they’re going to have this concept plan and want all the public’s input on it,” Yngstrom told the council audience.
Details of the new plan will be released Tuesday, Yngstrom told redbankgreen.
“It’s a totally different project now, so we want to unveil to the public to get their input,” he said.
Last month, the council approved $5,700 in additional expenditures for consulting engineer Christine Ballard of T&M Associates to draw up revised remediation plans to address contamination from an underground oil tank that served a home once located on the property. Remediation expenses of $22,900 were also approved.
Kathleen Gasienica, president of the American Littoral Society and resident of the condominium project next door to the site, has argued that Bellhaven is unsuitable for use as anything other than an educational preserve, in part because it regularly floods
The 2012 map above outlines the extent of wetlands at the site. (Click to enlarge)
