Park System Adjusts Claypit Creek Plans

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Story and Photos by Joseph Sapia
MIDDLETOWN – While the Monmouth County Park System has toned down some of its proposed changes at the Claypit Creek section of Hartshorne Woods Park, opponents are talking about ramping up the opposition.
At a forum with about 60 concerned homeowners in the Locust section of Middletown on April 7 , county Park System representatives Andrew J. Spears, the assistant director, and Joseph V. Sardonia, supervising landscape architect, said that parts of the project’s scope has changed.
“We’ve taken large-scale events off the table,” Spears said

The carriage house at the Claypit Creek section of Hartshorne Woods Park.
The carriage house at the Claypit Creek section of Hartshorne Woods Park.

Group rentals will be capped at 75 people, instead of 300. And the Park System will restrict a secondary unpaved roadway to service and emergency vehicles only. It had previously said it would be open to car-top boaters, for the unloading of boats.
While many opponents greeted these changes positively, they still are planning to ramp up opposition by incorporating into a formal group, hire a lawyer and raise funds. The opponents said they are willing to compromise on the matter, but that may include figuring out what not to compromise on.
“You’ve done a phenomenal job already,” James Summerfield told his fellow opponents.
Summerfield and his wife, Christina, are members of the Plattmount Park Homeowners Association, a nearby group of 75 families that has led the opposition so far.
Forming a new group, specific to the Claypit Creek section, creates a special purpose, gets beyond the geography of the homeowners association coverage and can better handle money raised for the cause, according to opponents.
To do the work at the the Claypit Creek section – which is 44 acres of the 794-acre Hartshorne Woods – the county needs various permits under the state Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA).

The dam-spillway of this freshwater pond is supposed to be repaired under Monmouth County’s plans at the Claypit Creek section of Hartshorne Woods Park.
The dam-spillway of this freshwater pond is supposed to be repaired under Monmouth County’s plans at the Claypit Creek section of Hartshorne Woods Park.

The Claypit Creek section is on the creek as it flows into the Navesink River near the Oceanic Bridge. The state has classified the area waters as Category One, meaning they are significant environmentally, recreationally, for fisheries, or for drinking water.
The CAFRA comment period formally ended March 31, but the state Department of Environmental Protection has informally extended it, with no end date listed.
Comments can be directed to the DEP, Division of Land Use Regulation, Mail Code501-2A, P.O. Box 420, Trenton, NJ, 08625, Attention: Monmouth County/Middletown Township Bureau Chief.
The Claypit Creek section, also known as the Fisher-Stern property, was purchased in 2005 for $10.4 million. The purchase was a joint effort of the county, state, Middletown and the Monmouth Conservation Foundation.
The dry ground is a bluff overlooking Claypit Creek and dammed freshwater area, looking south toward the Navesink River. A carriage house remains, but the original estate house is gone.
Plans for the property still include:

  • Putting restrooms in the carriage house.
  • Replacing an unpaved parking lot off Locust Avenue and increasing parking from about 25 or 30 spaces to 90. It would have a paved travel way, but the parking spots are to be permeable stone.Building an open-sided shelter, an estimated 60 feet by 40 feet.
  • Build a shoreline boardwalk for such activities as fishing, crabbing and viewing.
  • Build a dock to launch kayaks and canoes.
  • Build a permeable material patio with creek views.
  • Build a wildlife blind overlooking the freshwater pond.
  • Rebuild the spillway on the pond.
  • Build a three-bay storage facility, an estimated 50 feet by 30 feet.
  • Remove a deteriorated bulkhead.
  • Remove invasive phragmites reed grass.
  • Create a salt marsh to create wildlife habitat and protection against erosion.

There is no cost estimate for the project.
Appealing to the Park System is the Claypit Creek section’s location, access to waterways and it basically connects Hartshorne Woods with the county’s Huber Woods Park.
“We know it’s a gem,” Sardonia said.
Opponents have cited various points: changing the character of the open area, the need to protect wildlife, increasing parking and traffic safety.
“None of it fits into the area,” said neighborhood resident Darrin Montague, 50.
“I can summarize it: safety,” Montague, 50, speaking of concerns. “Have you driven down the block? It’s a sleepy, little natural park.”
Lisa Canny, 52, lives in the area, too.
“In the summertime, I can’t even go out on that road,” Canny said. “That’s how busy. This is going to create massive traffic jams. It’s just ridiculous.”
Canny said she thinks the county is more interested in bringing in revenue by renting the grounds, rather than simply fixing up a park.
“A natural environment should stay natural,” Canny said. “A protected environment, they shouldn’t be able to touch it.”
Francis Daly, president of the Plattmount Park Homeowners Association, said his group wants to make sure what is right for the neighborhood and the park.
“We felt the need to educate the community on the plans,” said Christina Summerfield, treasurer of the homeowners association.
“I think it’s damn near perfect the way it is, now,” said Hendrik “Rik” van Hemmen, vice president of the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association. “The (proposed) design kind of messes with my head.”
Van Hemmen said there should be access to the Navesink River, but it does not have to be made all that easy.
“We shouldn’t have a road to the mountain (for) everybody to get in,” van Hemmen said.
Middletown Township Administrator Anthony P. Mercantante said the township will monitor the proposal.
“At the end of the day, the (county Board of) Freeholders and (county) Recreation Commissioners are going to be concerned about neighborhood concerns,” Mercantante said.