By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
For the past three years, Sea Isle City officials have been exploring ways to make the municipal playgrounds even better by adding some type of shade cover to protect children from the blazing sun.
Some ideas were rejected as unworkable or too expensive, so the city continues to consider its options.
The city’s newly adopted five-year capital plan proposes spending $150,000 in 2024 for playground improvements and a “shade structure.”
Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said the city engineer is working on some options for shade protection, but noted that it’s still too early to say what they might be.
“Initially we hoped to erect rigid structures over the playground equipment that would be stronger in the wind and elements, but unfortunately the costs to implement those initial concepts were much higher than we anticipated, so the city sent the engineer back to the drawing board. We hope to have a plan in place soon,” Custer said in a text Sunday.
In early 2021, city officials initially considered erecting a fabric “shade sail,” measuring 45 feet by 54 feet and standing 15 feet high, to give kids and their parents plenty of cover at the municipal playground at JFK Boulevard and Central Avenue.
Months later, though, the city backed away from that idea after deciding that the sprawling, $95,000 shade sail would have been too elaborate. City officials then began considering other ways to keep children nice and cool while they are playing outdoors.
At the JFK Boulevard playground, there are 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 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.
Underscoring 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 cool and safe from sunburn.
Lauren Oliver, a Sea Isle resident and mother of two boys, presented city officials with a petition signed by more than 200 people imploring the city to add more shade cover at the playground.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said during the meeting that Sea Isle is also exploring the possibility of adding some type of shade protection at other municipal playgrounds, not just the one at JFK Boulevard.
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.
During the busy summer tourism season, the playgrounds become a big attraction for families.
Parents told city officials during the Council meeting in May 2023 that some type of shade cover would not only protect the children, but would also help to keep the playground equipment from becoming too hot to touch in summer.
