Improvements planned at Windward Beach Park, Brick, N.J., in 2025. (Credit: Brick Twp. Planning Division)
Brick officials are planning a major improvement project for the township’s best-known park, with the state expected to cover a significant portion of the costs through its Green Acres program.
The township held a hearing this week on the proposed plan, which will be submitted to the state for funding early in the new year. Under the proposal, the township will construct new sidewalks and paths to connect the park to the walkable portions of Princeton Avenue and improve mobility within. Playgrounds will also be upgraded to the latest safety standard.
“Once you enter the park, the sidewalks disappear and it gets a little hazardous for you to get from Princeton Avenue down to the band shell area or to the playgrounds,” said Mayor Lisa Crate. “We’ll be going out for some funding for sidewalks that will make it a lot safer for anybody who’s coming to our events or just bringing their kids to the park.”
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The sidewalks will be constructed at the park’s entrance to connect them to the sidewalks and bike lanes that already exist on Princeton Avenue. Inside the park, the walkway will breakout into two sections and extend around the front parking area to connect to the sidewalk that runs down Challenger Way (the main roadway in the park) toward the beach and field area. The new walkways will connect to the sidewalks both east and west of the Princeton Avenue entrance, and will connect together inside the park – one leading down toward the playground area nearest to the street and the other snaking behind the parking lot.
The township is also preparing upgrades to the surfacing on the park’s playgrounds. The safety surfaces at the “KaBoom” playground – an area built by volunteers in 2014 that is accessible to children with special needs – as well as the standard 5-12 year-old playground area closer to the interior of the park, will see their surfacing replaced with the most modern materials.
Volunteers help build a boundless playground at Windward Beach Park, Sept. 13, 2014. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
“Those playgrounds were put in in 2014 – can you believe it’s been 11 years? – and it’s time for it to be replaced,” said Crate.
Engineers estimate the improvements will cost $611,422. Should the grant funding be approved, the state’s Green Acres program will cover 75 percent of the cost – $458,566 – while taxpayers would fund just a quarter of the project at $152,855.
