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Bayside Park Officially Opens in Normandy Beach: Take a Tour

by
Daniel Nee
October 8, 2020

The island’s Bayside Park has officially reopened in the Normandy Beach section of Brick Township after a year-long renovation and infrastructure project – and nearly eight years after it was decimated by Superstorm Sandy.

Mayor John Ducey presided over a ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, children could be seen playing on the brand new playground equipment as parents took in views of Barnegat Bay. A few office workers took a lunch break at one of the park’s picnic tables. For the first time since Sandy, the park looked like itself again.

Bayside Park, a day after it reopened, Oct. 7, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

“This ribbon cutting has been a long time in the making and we cannot be more thrilled with how the renovation of Bayside Park turned out,” said Ducey a day earlier. “The park is filled with great amenities and will offer residents and guests to Brick Township a place to spend sun-filled days fishing, crabbing or a number of other activities in one of the most beautiful locations on the Barnegat Bay.”

Bayside Park is located on Route 35 South opposite Brick Beach III. The improved park includes a new gazebo, an enlarged and improved playground with safety surface, a new picnic area, new benches and shade structures on the boardwalk, bait tables for people to fish and crab, a concrete patio for activities and two concrete cornhole games. A new boardwalk was previously installed on the site. The project also included landscaping and installation of sod and an irrigation system.

Bayside Park suffered extensive damage during Super Storm Sandy in 2012. In the subsequent years, the park was used as a staging area for recovery projects such as the dredging of Barnegat Bay and the beach replenishment project. The Township waited for those projects to be finalized before moving forward with the renovation design and construction.

Bayside Park, a day after it reopened, Oct. 7, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

The cost of the renovation project was $722,022. The winning bid was submitted by Precise Construction of Freehold, NJ. Precise previously completed the Herbertsville, Angela Hibbard, Hank Waltonowski and Bernie Cooke projects. CME Associates designed the park and served as the consulting engineers for the project. The township has applied for Green Acres funding to offset the cost of this and other park projects.

Ducey has often touted his administration’s park renovation program as one of its prime achievements.

Bayside Park, a day after it reopened, Oct. 7, 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Previous projects include the playgrounds at Windward Beach Park, Herbertsville Park (formerly Colorado Park), Lake Riviera Park, Angela Hibbard Park, Hank Waltonowski Park and Bernie Cooke Park. Other recreational facility improvements completed in the past few years include the installation of fitness stations and replacing the field turf at the Drum Point Sports Complex.

The next planned park improvement project will take place at Cedar Bridge Manor Park.