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Deal for Trash Cans Brightens Park's Future

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 18:00 CST

By John Vandiver, Asbury Park Press, N.J.

Mar. 1--BARNEGAT -- The long-neglected Lower Shore Park is about to lose its distinction as a dumping ground for thousands of outdated garbage cans, according to township officials.

The Township Committee has made a deal with Atlantic City and an Atlantic County town to sell cans that have been out of use since a private company was hired to collect trash in Barnegat more than a year ago.

The agreement, formalized Monday, is the first step toward rehabilitating the rundown recreation facility, also known as "Mosquito Park," where a football field sits unused.

"We've been chipping away at it. This is going to help get most of them out of there. We're cleaning up the area," Deputy Mayor Maxine Blumenthal said.

Hammonton will purchase 800 cans and Atlantic City about 1,000, which will generate about $36,000 in revenue for Barnegat that will pay outstanding debt service, said Mayor Thomas Hartman, who negotiated the deal.

With garbage cans on the brink of being eliminated from the park, Township Committee members are looking at the potential for refurbishing Lower Shore Park fields.

Such a concept is welcome news for the Junior Bengals Football League, which has hopes of playing at Lower Shore Park.

"We're looking for the access," said Bill Clarke, league president.

Recreation in Barnegat has developed into a major issue in town, as various youth sports leagues struggle with a field shortage and scrounge for space to hold their events.

For example, a girls softball league doesn't have a home field, and the Junior Bengals are in jeopardy of losing access to a field they use at Barnegat High School.

School district officials have said if township youth programs want to continue to use high school fields, which have been damaged by overuse, then artificial turf must be installed at the football stadium. The turf is considered a possible remedy to the field shortage crisis because it would add durability, which would allow greater use.

The football league hopes for access to the high school and Lower Shore Park, both of which are needed to accommodate the growing program, Clarke said.

The turf matter has been controversial in Barnegat, where some residents question whether its proper for the town to pay some $750,000 for a fake grass field.

Blumenthal said the township funds should go to refurbishing Lower Shore Park and other existing parks, instead of spending money on the turf. The mosquito-infested Lower Shore Park has the potential to ease field-shortage concerns, Blumenthal said. And with establishment last year of a township-operated mosquito spraying unit, the bug problem that's plagued the area is ready to be tackled, she said.

"That's what I'd like to propose. We'd like to invest some of the incoming recreation funds to put the football field and softball field back into use," Blumenthal said.

However, Hartman said returning the Lower Shore field to playing condition doesn't eliminate the need for artificial turf.

"It's an alternative, but not an alternative that'll solve the problem," he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Asbury Park Press, N.J.

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Source: Asbury Park Press

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