With a little help from Hudson County, kids in Harrison may soon be enjoying enhanced outdoor recreational opportunities.
In another infrastructure-related issue, the county will be taking a hard look at a traffic flow problem on Kearny’s east side.
First, at the urging of Harrison officials, the county is actively pursuing the possibility of installing an artificial playing surface on the largest expanse of currently natural grass field in West Hudson Park.
The park straddles the Kearny and Harrison border but, for the most part, that section of playing area, accessible via Davis Ave., is largely within the confines of Harrison.
Harrison Councilman Larry Bennett told The Observer: “All the other parks in the county have had improvements done, so now we’d like to see something done in West Hudson Park. We need more playing space in Harrison, so turfing would definitely be a plus for us.”
Currently, that play area in the park is open to the general public, by county permit, and both kids and adults currently use the multi-purpose space for softball, baseball, soccer and cricket.
“Right now, our [rec-sponsored] regular soccer and travel soccer only have the Harrison Courts to use and only our Little League field is available for our little kids,” Bennett said. But, with the turfing project, Bennett said, the possibility exists, for example, for the town rec program to shift to the county park, opening up more play opportunities at the courts for outsiders.
To put the plan in motion, the county has taken the first step of soliciting “Requests for Qualifications” for professional engineering services “for the design and construction management of West Hudson Park athletic facility,” due May 11 at 11 a.m. for review by the freeholders.
Hudson County Freeholder Al Cifelli, who represents Harrison on the county board, said he’s squarely behind the town’s proposal.
Cifelli said the playing area off Davis – which he estimated takes up about 450-feet-by-600-feet – is “the most widely used” in the park and “gets a lot of play.” Turfing it, he said, “will make it more accessible year-round.”
A casual check of the playing area in its current condition can be deceiving. From a distance, it may look fine but, according to Cifelli, “if you walk the field, you find it’s very hard and dumpy. The grass is uneven.”
The county is looking at putting down the turf to accommodate the softball, baseball and soccer options, Cifelli said, “but we don’t know if [the playing area will be] big enough for cricket.
Cifelli said county engineers “are cognizant of the issues” surrounding the controversial FieldTurf supplier from which many municipalities and counties around New Jersey – and beyond – have acquired artificial playing surface, only to discover that the vendor’s product may be deficient.
Several communities in the Garden State have joined a class action lawsuit against FieldTurf and that litigation is still pending.
Cifelli said the county is also proposing to install bathrooms and lights and possibly other amenities as part of the improvement project.
County engineers are projecting the project could cost in the neighborhood of $3 million, Cifelli said. How the county would finance the work has yet to be decided.
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Meanwhile, in an unrelated Hudson infrastructure development, the county is due to receive engineering proposals, also on May 11, for the design and construction inspection of intersection improvements involving county roads in several towns, including Kearny.
Kearny Mayor Alberto Santos said the county hopes to improve traffic flow along Schuyler Ave., a county roadway, at the Midland and E. Midland Ave. intersections.
There is a traffic light at the corner of each of those intersections, with about 100 feet separating each signal, but, according to Santos, the timing of those signals “is not in coordination,” which, he said, “makes it hard for eastbound traffic coming up the hilly E. Midland to get out into Schuyler traffic.
That situation “has been a source of concern raised by my office,” he added.
