‘VFW Park’ on Duchess Lane in Brick Township, N.J. (Credit: Google Earth)
A tucked-away Brick Township-owned property located on a residential street where neighbors are already battling a proposal that they fear could bring an influx of traffic do not have to worry about a second potential land use fracas.
A group of township residents who run a private softball league that is not affiliated with the Brick recreation department recently came to a meeting of the township council to lobby for use of a parcel of land on Duchess Lane that was once part of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post that was located on the street.
Micah Bender, who ran for a seat on the Brick school board in 2020, led the group’s efforts to reserve the undeveloped field for the use of his organization, a girls’ softball league that is privately operated. Bender said the group has had trouble locating space to play in recent years and requested the township make the field, informally known as “VFW Park,” available to their players. The park is vacant and generally unused.
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“I’m not here to ask you for one penny,” he said. “I’m only asking for you to allow us to use this field that currently sits empty.”
Bender said his group would be willing to pay to create a softball diamond on the site and keep the area maintained.
While it is true that the field is empty and does not have any formal league activity, there are several reasons why, according to local residents who spoke to Shorebeat following the request. While it once served as a park for the VFW, which no longer is located on Duchess Lane, the township preserved it as open space. The parcel of land has no parking area, meaning vehicles would have to line local streets. Further, there are no buffers between much of the outline of the park and residential homes, nor are there any entrances to the area except one small path, which could lead to softballs flying into neighbors’ yards and users of the field accessing the property through some of those same yards.
The residents requested their names be kept confidential, preferring to speak on background only.
Duchess Lane residents are already fighting a proposal by a church – which also is set in the middle of the residential neighborhood – to redesignate their property for a school use by a home-schooling cooperative. The residents have hired an attorney to object to the measure, arguing the school use would be permanently attached to the church building, which does not meet the conditions within the township’s zoning code to operate as a school facility. If the church building were to be sold in the future, it would retain the variance that would allow a school to operate there. That case before the zoning board is still pending after nearly a year’s worth of hearings, and will be taken back up by the board in December.
The request for field access, made in early October, came as a surprise to township officials, who said it was the first they had heard of the league or any interest in using an oft-forgotten park for a playing field. Officials said they were unsure if the property was even owned by the township, though a check of land use records by Shorebeat confirmed it is, indeed, public property.
Following the meeting, township officials considered the request and found a solution.
“The use of the Duchess Lane property for a sports team is not feasible, and that was explained to the team making the request,” said Business Administrator Joanne Bergin.
There was, however, a happy ending for the team in search of a “field of their own.”
“We have been able to accommodate their request for playing fields at other locations for the remainder of this year,” she said. “It’s a win-win!”
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