By BRIAN DONOHUE
The bright yellow arrivals in Red Bank’s Marine Park this first week of spring were not the usual daffodils sprouting from the earth. They were bulldozers getting ready to rip it up.
Construction equipment and workers arrived to begin the second – and doubtless more visually dramatic – phase of the long-planned park redesign project.
The first phase, completed last year, involved moving the parking lot to the inland, southwesternmost corner of the park on Union Street by paving over the area where the clay tennis courts sat before Hurricane Sandy.
Now, workers will begin ripping up the existing parking lot to create a wide lawn along the riverfront and installing a large new playground below the grove of trees. (see previous coverage below). As of dusk Wednesday, several less-than-healthy looking sycamores on a median in the parking lot had been removed.
Members of Red Bank’s Shade Tree Committee, along with a member of the planning board, had expressed concern about the number of trees being cut down for the project, especially in the area of the playground which sits at the base of a shaded slope lined with mature trees.
According to an environmental impact statement prepared last year by borough engineers CME Associates, a total of twelve trees will be removed including four for the playground area.
But confusion was stirred late last year because schematics released with the plans for the park indicated a higher number of trees would be cut down.
At the February 27 meeting of the Mayor and Borough Council Council member Nancy Facey-Blackwood, liaison to the Shade Tree Committee said members had met with an engineer for the project and came away “happy” with the plan. She has previously stated that once new trees are planted, the park will have a larger number of trees than before the remake.
RED BANK GOES BIG WITH MARINE PARK PLAYGROUND PLANS
In an interview with redbankgreen this week, Committee Chairperson Remedios Quiroz said members were indeed satisfied with engineers’ promises to plant larger four-inch thick replacement trees instead of skinnier saplings and to install an irrigation system to make sure they survive.
But she sounded more perhaps a tad more resigned than happy.
Despite the numbers in the environmental impact statement, she said 11 trees would be removed for the playground section, including a few that sit on the sloping hill.
That area needs to be leveled to make way for the playground and engineers said the trees would not survive, she said.
“I would have preferred the playground to be on the already flat surface,’’ Quiroz said.
She said the committee got as many concessions as they could out of the process.
“We know it’s going to happen so we have to make the best of it.”
Borough manager Jim Gant said officials worked closely with engineers and the playground manufacturer Kompan “to limit tree removal in the area of the playground.”
But he said some of the trees on the slope will need to be removed to ensure the proposed playground meets the state’s rules for Completely Inclusive Playgrounds.
Gant called meetings with the Shade Tree Committee “invaluable” adding “we leaned heavily on their input.”
“Particularly these committees will have significant input over our planting plan for the finished product of the park, which will include 29 new shade trees and 28 ornamental trees, along with hundreds of shrubs and ornamental grasses,” he said in an email.
The $4 million makeover of Marine Park is funded by a mix of grants and borrowing. The playground, funded through a still-pending state grant, promises to be a large-scale upgrade with features accessible to children with disabilities.
Traffic down Wharf Avenue to the park was blocked off Wednesday night evening with no parking signs in the lot below. Workers had moved a milling machine onto the site and appeared poised to start kicking some serious asphalt.
“Seeing progress at Marine park is very exciting and will be an improvement for Red Bank well into our future,” Gant said in his email. “There will be something for everyone here.”:
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
