Story and photos by Joseph Sapia
MIDDLETOWN – With state CAFRA permits in place, the Monmouth County Park System’s plans to make improvements at the Claypit Creek section of Hartshorne Woods Park could begin as early as the fall.
Late fall or winter are probably the best times to repair a deteriorating spillway at the site’s freshwater pond because foliage is not in the way, there are less visitors and less activity by wildlife, said Joseph V. Sardonia, a park system super vising landscape architect.
The Park System is now working with the state Department of Environmental Protection to fund this project. The DEP has an enforcement action against an environmental regulation violator unconnected to the park, Sardonia said. The idea is for this unidentified party to repair the spillway at the site’s freshwater pond, instead of paying a fine for the violation.
This would be the first work of a $1.9 million project proposed by the park system for the Claypit Creek section. The section comprises forty-four of Hartshorne Woods’ 794 acres.
The next work in line is still being discussed. It would be a saltmarsh rehabilitation project on the creek by the American Littoral Society, a coastal environmental group based at Sandy Hook, Sardonia said.
Looking across a grassy area at the Claypit Creek section of Hartshorne Woods Park in Middletown.
This would include removing invasive, non-native Phragmites reed grass along the bulkhead and replacing it with native Spartina salt hay, Sardonia said.
“The salt marsh is trying to establish itself,” Sardonia said. “What we would do is try to give it a little boost.”
There also is the possibility of removing a 3-foot-tall bulkhead on the creek.
Hopefully, the salt marsh project could be worked out in a month or so, with the actual project taking place in the spring, Sardonia said.
The Claypit Creek section sits on a bluff overlooking 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 state Department of Environmental Protection issued the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) permits May 23, Sardonia said. The permits are good for five years, according to Sardonia.
Other plans for Claypit Creek include putting restrooms in an existing carriage house and building a shoreline boardwalk for such activities as fishing, crabbing and viewing.
“What we’re trying to do (with the boardwalk) is protect the shoreline and bluff,” Sardonia said. “People walk on the surface, they’re not beating the ground down and vegetation. And they still have access to the water.”
The park system would also like to build a dock to launch kayaks and canoes, a permeable material patio with creek views and an open-sided shelter that would be about 50 feet by 30 feet.
Opponents of the project have raised concerns about such things as changing the character of the open area, the need to protect wildlife and traffic safety.
The Park System said it has made some changes in its original plan, including capping group-rental gatherings at the site to 75 people, rather than 300, and restricting a secondary, unpaved roadway to service and emergency vehicles. Previously, the Park System planned to open it to car-top boaters to unload boats.
They will also replace the unpaved parking lot off Locust Avenue and increasing parking from the current 25 or 30 to 50 initially “and see how that works out,” Sardonia said. The permits allow for 89 spaces to be built.
Instead of building a wildlife blind overlooking the freshwater pond, the park system is also looking at using an existing building as the blind. They also said they will hold off on building a three-bay storage facility estimated in size at 50 feet by 30 feet. Hartshorne Woods already has a maintenance storage facility elsewhere.
Opponents have formed the Conserve Claypit Creek group. The group has met with Park System Director James J. Truncer and assistant director Andrew Spears.
Attempts to reach the Claypit Creek Group for an interview were unsuccessful.
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.
