By Stephanie Loder
Are you a resident with an idea to improve Egg Harbor Township’s hundreds of acres of recreational parks?
If so, Egg Harbor Township Parks and Recreation Department is asking to hear from you.
Township residents are invited to speak up at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 26) during an open house at the Egg Harbor Township Municipal Building on Bargaintown Road. The open house is being held in conjunction with the township committee meeting.
“This is a new initiative so that people’s voices can be heard,” said Rick Audet, Director of Egg Harbor Township Parks and Recreation.
The event by the Parks and Recreation Department is an opportunity for township officials to hear ideas from residents, Audet said.
He plans to present information on recent park projects, the current capital improvement plan, and funding opportunities for park enhancements next year.
At the first open house on Nov. 13, Audet said some residents suggested adding more pickleball courts for the township. Audet said an 8-court facility was recently built at MK Betterment Park on Cates Avenue.
“It (pickleball) is so popular we could have built something twice as big,” he said.
He said a six-year capital recreation budget is being finalized for the township parks.
“The purpose (of the open house) is to gather more public input to help us in the development of the capital improvement plan,” he said.
Similar meetings with township youth sports organizations help Audet’s office assess the organization’s needs each year. It’s the first time Parks and Recreation has opened the discussion about parks to everyone in the township, not just youth organizations.
“These open house meetings are a way to garner additional input from people who are not part of sports organizations and are members of the general public. We want to find out everyone’s needs,” he said.
Audet said his office and the township Recreation Commission have received “tremendous support” from the township administrator Thomas J. D’Intino and all of the township committee.
Suggestions and ideas from residents who attend the open house will be recorded for possible future use, Audet said.
“We will review all of the input,” he said. “We will review it and consider it and do our best to incorporate ideas into our six-year plan.”
Even if a suggestion doesn’t fit in with the parks and recreation plan for 2025, Audet said it is possible it could be considered in future years.
“We will take all the input we hear and use it for the next year – and the years beyond,” Audet said.
Audet is also preparing a survey for residents to take about the township’s parks.
The survey will be available in the next few weeks on the township Parks and Recreation Department Facebook page and it will also be sent out to residents through email blasts, he said.
Egg Harbor Township boasts 10 parks and playgrounds which vary in size.
The township parks include the more than 50-acre Anthony ‘Tony’ Canale Park at Dogwood Avenue, the 83-acre Veterans Memorial Park on Ocean Heights Avenue, the 35-acre Childs-Kirk Memorial Park on Idlewood Avenue, the Delilah Oaks Park which is 5 acres, and a basketball court at Oakland and Tremont avenues which is just under 1 acre.
There is the more than 8-acre Shires Park, the Shires Playground on Esher Way, the 23-acre Bargaintown Park on Delaware Avenue, and the recently revitalized MK Betterment Park on Cates Avenue.
The township is also home to the 220-acre Egg Harbor Township Nature Reserve on Zion Road and the Egg Harbor Township Nature Reserve Environmental Learning Center on 15 acres on School House Road.
