Jake Seymour of Tuckahoe gives his son, Vincent, a lift after some fun on the JFK Boulevard playground sliding board in the summer of 2024.
Four years ago, Sea Isle City considered erecting a sprawling “shade sail” at its popular playground on John F. Kennedy Boulevard to protect children from the blazing sun.
The shade sail idea was later rejected as being too elaborate, so the city began exploring other ways to keep children nice and cool while they are playing outdoors.
City officials have gone back and forth in the last three years while discussing the possibility of adding some type of shading at the playground, including whether it should be temporary or permanent.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio said the city continues to consider its options for shading the playground – and now hopes it can obtain a grant to help fund the project.
City Council has approved a resolution to apply for a grant through Congressman Jeff Van Drew’s office. Van Drew’s 2nd Congressional District includes Sea Isle.
“Before considering the expenditure of city taxpayer funds to bear the full cost of this project, we believed this was an appropriate grant request to make to the congressman,” Desiderio said in a statement at Tuesday’s Council meeting.
Desiderio noted that the city engineer has prepared concepts for various shade structures, with the estimated cost ranging from $500,000 to $750,000.
“The high costs are driven to a large degree by the foundation necessary to support the shade material at a height over the playground equipment,” he said.
The playground on JFK Boulevard includes swings, slides and other play equipmentSea Isle residents have occasionally appeared at Council meetings in recent years to urge the city to build some type of playground shade structure. In 2023, Lauren Oliver, a mother of two boys, presented city officials with a petition, then signed by more than 200 people, imploring Sea Isle to add more shade cover at the playground.
Desiderio said that he is aware that members of the community “would like to see something done.” He added that the city is still looking at options to make it happen.
“As Council knows, there are many projects that we’ve considered over the years – many of which were advanced to completion and some that were delayed or shelved for various reasons. If money were no object, it would be easy to do all of the projects that everyone wants,” he said.
The JFK Boulevard playground includes swings, slides and a fun house to entertain the children. There are also some gazebo-style coverings for some of the playground equipment to provide a bit of shade from the sun.
In 2020, the city added a new spongy, rubber surface at the playground to give children a safe and soft cushion if they fall off the slides, swings or other equipment.
Sliding boards are one of the attractions at the playground on JFK Boulevard.
