Popular Playground Getting Spongy Surface

By MADDY VITALE City Council has approved a contract to resurface the popular children's playground at JFK Boulevard as part of Sea Isle City’s ongoing effort to create up-to-date recreation amenities for visitors and residents. “This is one of the many efforts that the city undertakes to maintain a level of safety. We are a family-friendly community and we want to ensure that our youngest visitors and residents can enjoy themselves in a safe environment,” said Sea Isle’s Public Information Officer Katherine Custer. The contract for $195,300 was awarded to Whirl Construction based in Port Monmouth, New Jersey. The company was the lowest responsible bidder, according to the City Council resolution. Custer said the city anticipates the work will be done in the spring, so that the project will be completed in time for the busy summer tourism season. She explained that the playground will be resurfaced with the same poured-in-place rubber surfacing it has now – only it will be new. The company will remove and dispose of the existing surfacing and install the new surface. “It is a protective surface in the playground. The playground has been repaired, but it has been there for a number of years and needed to be replaced,” Custer said. Custer noted that the surface materials used are very spongy, making it a safe and suitable surfacing for children. “We are talking about the really soft surface, so if a child was to fall from one of the pieces of playground equipment, it would help cushion the fall,” Custer said. “When you walk on it, it feels really spongy.” City Council approved a contract for the new playground surfacing. The city’s Public Works Department maintains the recreational facilities. Vicki Feeney, superintendent of recreation under the department, oversees the playgrounds. “She does a fine job of keeping the facilities maintained,” Custer said of Feeney. The project to resurface the playground is part of a cooperative pricing bid. According to the City Council resolution, a "Cooperative Pricing Agreement was executed by the city to join the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey (ESCNJ) Cooperative Pricing System on or about March 12, 2019." According to the ESCNJ website, the organization has been in existence since 1977, and has grown to become the largest cooperative pricing system in New Jersey. Participants include school districts, colleges, universities, municipalities, county governments and more with the goal of saving taxpayers’ money by seeking out great prices for the members, the website says. ESCNJ develops bid specifications according to the requests members pass on, thus saving members time and money by providing this service for them by developing bid specifications, advertising and doing research. The ESCNJ then works to attract as many responsible bidders as possible.