SPRINGWOOD AVENUE PARK BACK ON TRACK

FUNDRAISER AT TALULAH'S TO HELP FUND LANDSCAPING COSTS

By Michelle Gladden

Thanks to a Monmouth Conservation Foundation grant, stalled development of the west-side Springwood Park is back on track, Councilwoman Yvonne Clayton said.

“We are going out to bid in two weeks and should have shovels in the ground by June 1,” Clayton said.

City Council members learned in February that the project had not only been stalled during the search for a contractor but that planned restrooms had been removed.

“This is a total embarrassment on everybody’s end,” Mayor John Moor said. “We were supposed to have a ribbon-cutting on March 15.”

The project’s development began six years ago, Moor said.

The 1.3 acres along Springwood Avenue between Atkins and Union avenues would serve as the west side’s first public park, officials said.  Plans include a courtyard, playground, fountain, recreation field, chess tables, a civic plaza and stage, a walkway/jogging track, benches and additional trees.

The estimated $1.3 million project is funded in part by Monmouth County Municipal Open Space grants, Community Development funds, and by the city’s reserve fund.

Clayton said a $150,000 financial shortfall, preventing the project from moving forward, will be met by the Middletown-based Foundation and they will help in raising money for an estimated $100,000 landscape budget.

That effort begins with a local fundraising event at Asbury Park’s own Talula’s at Cookman Avenue. A “Pizza and Pasta for a Purpose” Sunday supper will begin at 6 p.m. May 3. Tickets are $60 per person; $25 for children under 12.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit Monmouth Conservation’s website or call (732) 671-7000, Ext. 101.