By Stephen Appezzato
HIGHLANDS – Numerous infrastructure, park, school and capital improvement projects are in the works for Highlands. Many will be completed this summer.
Upgrades to Veterans Memorial Park will soon be finished. They include installing new picnic tables, a water fountain, solar lighting, basketball court upgrades and a stone chess table. At the recent borough meeting June 5, Mayor Carolyn Broullon said the amenities were all on backorder. “We’re just waiting for all these things to come in so we can finish that out and close the project,” she said.
While the borough waits for that delivery, Broullon mentioned two new park projects are in the works.
An undeveloped lot on Route 36 near the borough hall will become a passive Overlook Park. The lot, which faces the bay, has been unused until now.
“We want to make it a nice place to reflect, get rid of a bunch of scrub trees and be able to look at the ocean, the bay, Sandy Hook and Manhattan, of course,” she said.
An environmental study on the project was recently completed and the borough secured a $148,000 Monmouth County Open Space matching grant and a $74,000 state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) grant to help fund the new park.
Frank Hall Park will receive a facelift. The borough is applying for another Local Recreation Improvement Grant through the DCA to “reboot” the park and make it more user-friendly.
Alongside park plans, a handful of capital and infrastructure projects are in the works in the borough. Pedestrian safety improvements, including sidewalks, will be constructed along Shore Drive and stretches from Huddy Park to Willow Street. Broullon said it’s at times dangerous along the stretch for commuters who walk to the ferry because “half the time they’re walking into the street.”
“We’re going to make that a lot safer,” she said. Sidewalk replacements and road paving will also be done along Central Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Beach Boulevard, and portions of Bay and Waterwitch avenues. The county will complete much of the work along the latter two roads in July.
Regarding school improvements, the Henry Hudson Regional School District approved a $1.4 million list of improvements that will occur across its three schools this summer.
Henry Hudson Regional and Atlantic Highlands Elementary schools will have air conditioning installed in their second-floor classrooms and brickwork repointing projects. Meanwhile, a $400,000 window project will be completed at Highlands Elementary School. A separate $290,000 roof replacement project will occur at the school, funded with a grant from the school’s development authority.
In a statement, Superintendent Tara Beams said a combination of grants will fund these projects and enable essential upgrades, “enhancing the learning environment without imposing a tax burden on Highlands residents.”
Revisiting old and ongoing projects, Broullon informed residents a years-in-the-works project to replace underground sanitary sewer lines that date to 1925 has stalled due to complications. The century-old piping was originally embedded into underground sewer walls to prevent it from sagging, although this has made the job particularly difficult. “We can’t get at them because we try to go around them gingerly but the pipes are so old they just break,” Broullon explained. The borough is working with NJ American Water to find a solution.
Lastly, the mayor touched on the proposed Army Corps of Engineers floodwall project.
“After four years, they’re only at 30% of getting their plan completed, let alone if this will ever happen,” Broullon said. More information on the proposed plan will be shared at a public meeting in September ahead of a November ballot question to gauge if residents want the effort to move forward.
The article originally appeared in the June 13 – June 19, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
