By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Jake Seymour brought his 2-year-son, Vincent, to Sea Isle City’s municipal playground on John F. Kennedy Boulevard to have some fun on the slides.
Vincent let out a few squeals of laughter when his dad picked him up for some play time. However, Seymour was surprised when he touched the slides and other playground equipment.
“I think the bigger issue is that the equipment is too hot to touch. The slides are almost unusable,” said Seymour, who lives in Tuckahoe and was visiting the playground for the first time on Tuesday morning.
The blazing summer sun that heated up the slides underscored the need for something that Sea Isle officials have been exploring for about three years – the possibility of installing some type of shade structure to keep the children nice and cool when they are playing.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said Sea Isle had its municipal engineer develop conceptual plans for sun protection at the playground. The city will consider three options ranging in price from $425,000 to $725,000, he indicated.
The city’s five-year capital plan proposes spending $150,000 in 2024 for playground improvements and a “shade structure.” Savastano noted that the project will actually cost more.
Savastano did not reveal many details about the three options while discussing the plans during a City Council meeting Tuesday. He did say that city officials are discussing the possibility of installing some type of temporary shade structure during the steamy summer months.
“When we do it, we’re going to do it right,” he said.
The plans will be discussed between the city engineer and Mayor Leonard Desiderio before they are formally presented to Council, Savastano pointed out.
He spoke of the plans for sun protection after one Sea Isle resident, Jan Craine, complained about the lack of playground shade during remarks at the Council meeting. Craine suggested that the city should install a fabric or “sail-like” material to create a protective shade cover during the summer.
In response to Craine, Savastano said the concepts under consideration by the city would include a sail-like structure. Although the structure would only be temporary for the summer months, it would have to be strong enough to withstand the strong winds blowing off the ocean, he explained.
“It’s not as simple as it sounds,” he said.
Savastano estimated that the shade structure would be about 20 to 25 feet tall. One issue that city officials will consider is whether the structure would block the ocean views for homeowners surrounding the playground.
“What some people want, others don’t,” Savastano said of the challenges of balancing the needs of the playground and the surrounding neighborhood.
In the last three years, city officials have gone back and forth while discussing the possibility of adding some type of shading to the playground, including whether it should be temporary or permanent.
Some of the concepts for permanent shading would have cost an estimated $2 million, which would have been too expensive, Savastano said.
In addition to the one at JFK Boulevard, the city also has a playground at the beach entrance at 85th Street and one at the Dealy Field recreation complex on Central Avenue near 60th Street.
At this point, city officials are focusing on adding a shade structure to the JFK Boulevard playground. During the busy summer tourism season, the playground becomes a big attraction for families.
Craine said she was encouraged by Savastano’s comments about creating shade at the JFK playground.
“It would be a nice addition. But even without shade, we would continue to go there,” she said in an interview after the Council meeting.
Stressing the importance of the project, parents appeared at a City Council meeting in May 2023 to urge Sea Isle officials to build some type of shade protection at the JFK Boulevard playground to keep the children safe from sunburn.
Lauren Oliver, a Sea Isle resident and mother of two boys, presented city officials with a petition then signed by more than 200 people imploring the city to add more shade cover at the playground.
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.
“I saw people camped out under the slides trying to get some shade,” Seymour said while playing with his son.
In 2020, the city added a new spongy, rubber surface at the JFK Boulevard playground to give children a safe and soft cushion if they fall off the slides, swings or other equipment. Shade cover would be another safety improvement.
