Seaside Park Expects Major Park Upgrade Project to Begin This Spring

The 14th Avenue playground in Seaside Park, N.J., Oct. 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Seaside Park officials are expecting the first portion of a two-part project to upgrade the 13th/14th Avenue playground facility to be completed this spring.

The borough has long sought to upgrade the park, which consists of a playground, tennis court and baseball field. Some of the equipment is aging, and there have also been drainage and lighting issues at the park, necessitating some upgrades. Last year, a donor who wished to remain anonymous pledged to fund a $174,350 upgrade to the playground portion. The benefactor requested the playground equipment be oriented toward children in the 6-12 year-old age group.

The new playground represents the first phase which is expected to be completed in the spring, Mayor John Peterson said.

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“The balance of the project involves new lights and upgrades for the ballfield, which includes drainage improvements,” he added.

At a recent borough council meeting, the matter was discussed at greater length. In recent years, the lights at the park have not operated properly, causing some baseball leagues to cancel their seasons. There was no baseball league last fall, for example.

The 14th Avenue playground in Seaside Park, N.J., Oct. 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

“The rest of the whole property is in need of repair and drainage upgrades,” said Councilman Frank “Fritz” McHugh. “We’ve also been talking about replacing the lights – that has been first and foremost. In talking about the playground, we determined that anything we do there will affect the rest of [the park].”

The council earlier this month passed a resolution allocating not more than $25,000 for an engineering firm, T&M Associates, to provide design, contract administration and construction administration and inspection services for the second phase of the project. The work itself is expected to be funded in the 2023 municipal budget, which has not yet been adopted.

“The plans, estimates and proposals are not finalized, so the work probably would not be done until the fall,” Peterson said of the second phase.