Parks Are Topic of City Session

CAPE MAY – The city unveiled plans for the renovation and revitalization of Lafayette Street Park and the Rotary Park at a special meeting of Cape May City Council Sept. 29. Public turnout was strong with almost all seats taken for the presentations.
Lafayette Street Park
The meeting led off with discussion of plans for Lafayette Street Park, a 38-acre space adjacent to Cape May Elementary School and fronting one of the city’s main gateway streets. The firm of Cairone & Kaupp was selected for the design of the first phase of what the city sees as a four-phase effort to complete the renovation of the full park area.
Phase one is on the Lafayette Street side of the park adjacent to the school. It involves the multipurpose field and playground area. The city has received $1.5 million in state funding for the project with the understanding that work on phase one is to be completed by mid-2016.
The effort will involve restoration of the multipurpose field suitable for field hockey, soccer or lacrosse. Renovation will include irrigation, lighting, and improved playing surfaces. This phase will also include a new setting for the playground area, integrating it into a park atmosphere appropriate for use by the general public as well as school.
In an effort to showcase this part of the park as a gateway to the city, the design calls for an “ornamental surround,” a fencing concept that will incorporate fencing, trees, stone columns and short walls.  The design seeks, in the words of the firm, to make the enclosure “discrete but open.”
The landscape architects placed emphasis on the fact that native and indigenous plants and trees will be used in the project.
A tree-lined path will lead from the playground to the school. This small area of the park will also house an outdoor learning area suitable for classroom activity.
Mayor Edward Mahaney pointed out that the multipurpose field will continue to be used as an emergency helicopter pad when needed. All appropriate organizations and agencies have agreed that the new lighting fixtures pose no problem for that occasional use.
The city presented a basic outline of the future phases of the project, pointing out that phases two and three are already fully funded. 
Phase two will involve renovation of the existing Dellas baseball field and its surrounding grounds. The city has secured a $400,000 state Green Acres loan for that project. Phase two is scheduled for completion by mid-2017.
Phase three will include the non-wetlands remainder of the park from Lafayette, the area of the current dog park, and on to St. John’s Street.  For this phase of the project, scheduled for completion in 2019, $1.7 million has been secured through the Cape May County Open Space program.
Phase four was not discussed but will involve trails through the wetlands portion of the park.
Public comment period demonstrated strong support for the design. Council member Shaine Meier asked that lighting for the playground area also be included and an agreement was reached that pricing for such lighting will be requested in the bid process.
Also the Wise and Anderson families were assured that the current Wise-Anderson Park will retain its separate name as it is incorporated into the overall project.
Rotary Park
City Manager Bruce MacLeod began the discussions of the Rotary Park project by placing the effort in its historical context. As MacLeod presented it, the Rotary Park effort represents a culmination of the project for the revitalization of the Washington Street Mall and its service roads and intersecting streets.
MacLeod began with the design for improvements to the core mall area, the three-block stretch of Washington Street down the center of the mall, which had its rededication ceremony in 2008.
He went on to detail the city’s efforts from 2011 through 2015, to revitalize and upgrade “the side support streets and the intersecting streets that cross through the mall.” This work was done in annual increments based on available grant funding.
The city is comfortable it will receive funding for the last remaining section of street renovation, the 400 block of Lyle Lane. 
With that work, MacLeod said, “We are brought to Rotary Park.” The city’s intent is to carry the renovation effort over into the park which boarders Lyle Lane.
The word most often used to describe the current Rotary Park was “tired.” The park is over 40 years old, dating to the same period of urban renewal that produced the mall.
The renovation of the park was described as an engineering and landscaping project with the firm of Remington, Vernick & Walberg managing the project for the city.
The effort involves a movement of both the famed gazebo and bandstand that have been central to the park for decades. Pointing out that they are at the end of their useful life, designers discussed the opportunity this presents for reorienting the park and still improving the experience of participants at city concerts. 
With the bandstand moved to a side of the park, the proposed center fountain opens the vista for the mall area and creates better access routes into and through the park. The project also allows engineers to make all access points federal Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.
One sticking point in plans has always been the trees.  The current space has about 32 trees which the landscape planners say are in competition with each other in the small space. Plans call for preserving 12 of those, all shade trees, and planting 12 additional large-caliber shade trees.
Fund for Cape May
The grant funding for the remaining piece of Lyle Lane will also support some of the engineering costs for the Rotary Park effort. Additional support will come from the public/private partnership between the city and a non-profit organization, the Fund for Cape May, organized to attract community financial support for civic improvement projects in the city.
Curtis Bashaw, one of the founders of the Fund for Cape May, described its aims simply as “We want to be able to enhance the restorations.” 
The idea being that private funds raised through the organization could supplement public or grant funds is ways that allow for enhanced ornamentation or materials that the city might not be in a position to afford.
At the conclusion of the presentations, and with generally strong public support, both projects seemed poised to move forward.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.