Sea Isle City considers options for making children's playground nice and shady

Sea Isle City resident Lori Branco enjoys taking her two grandkids to the popular children’s playground on John F. Kennedy Boulevard – unless the blazing summer sun makes things too hot.

“They may burn themselves,” Branco said of her grandson, Brooks, 5, and granddaughter, Blakely, 4, touching the sizzling playground equipment.

City officials have gone back and forth in the last five years while discussing the possibility of adding some type of shading at the playground to keep the kids nice and cool.

Now, they have some options for protecting the children from the sun following a presentation Tuesday on shade structures ranging from fabric “sails” to a sprawling metal roof canopy to cover the entire playground.

The options outlined by City Engineer Andrew Previti would cost anywhere between $115,000 for a modest fabric shade covering for the playground’s benches to $3.2 million for a metal canopy that would span the entire site and rise more than 20 feet high.

    One option to create shade at the playground is a metal roof canopy costing an estimated $3.2 million. (Courtesy of Colliers Engineering & Design and Sea Isle City)
  

More elaborate fabric sails also discussed by Previti would cover anywhere from one-third of the playground to the entire property – costing from $445,000 to $1.2 million.

During his presentation at a City Council meeting, Previti explained that he didn’t particularly like the idea of a metal canopy shade covering because the structure would be permanent.

“Here, I don’t think it’s a practical option,” he said, noting that a metal canopy would be better for hotter climates such as the southern states.

A metal canopy would be a huge structure, stretching 180 feet long, 60 feet wide and rising 22 feet high.

Some type of fabric shade sail or covering would not be permanent. Although it would require a foundation to anchor it in the winds, the fabric would be taken down in the fall and winter months to prevent it from being shredded by the harsh weather, Previti explained.

If the city chose to cover the entire playground with a fabric type of shading, it would measure 166 feet long, 60 feet wide and 10 feet high.

    Quiet during the winter months, the playground bustles with activity during the spring and summer tourism seasons.
  

Sea Isle’s new $50.1 million, five-year capital plan approved by City Council on Dec. 9 proposes spending $600,000 in 2026 for some type of shade structure at the JFK Boulevard playground. More money might be needed, depending on which shade option is selected, when the city finances the project in a funding ordinance.

Now that Previti has given his report, members of Council and Mayor Leonard Desiderio must choose the option they like best. The project would have to be designed and put out to bid before it was built.

“After Council has had the opportunity to consider the various options that will be presented today, we’ll need to come to agreement on the concept with which we want to move forward,” Desiderio said at the meeting Tuesday.

Desiderio noted that a playground shade structure has been a topic of discussion among city officials for “some time now.”

Whichever type of design is ultimately selected, the shade covering will need a foundation to anchor it into the ground to protect it from the strong winds at the shore, City Business Administrator George Savastano 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.

    This rendering depicts a proposed fabric shade "sail" that would cover the entire playground. (Courtesy of Colliers Engineering & Design and Sea Isle City)
  

Sea Isle residents have occasionally appeared at Council meetings in recent years to urge the city to build some type of playground shade structure to keep the children cool. 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 to protect children from the scorching summer sun.

Branco, the Sea Isle resident who enjoys taking her two grandkids to the JFK Boulevard playground, told city officials at Tuesday’s meeting that a shade covering would protect the children from the sun and allow them to have “a great time.”

Joann McCauley, another Sea Isle resident who takes her grandchildren to the playgrounds, asked city officials to also consider adding a shade covering to the playground at the Dealy Field athletic and recreation complex.

“If you’re going to do them, do them both,” McCauley said of the JFK Boulevard and Dealy Field playgrounds. “It’s for the kids.”