By Sunayana Prabhu and Stephen Appezzato
With the application deadline for the New Jersey Green Acres grant program fast approaching, several municipalities in the Two River area are seeking funds to revitalize or establish new parks that offer all-inclusive playgrounds, through a special allotment from the Jake’s Law program, extended to municipalities this year.
Jake’s Law is a special grant within the Green Acres Program administered through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The grant incentivizes municipalities to build inclusive playgrounds for children and adults with disabilities. Jake’s Law grants were made available to counties last year but this year the NJDEP has extended the pilot program and invited municipalities to apply.
What is Jake’s Law?
Gov. Phil Murphy signed Jake’s Law in 2018. According to a 2018 release from the governor’s office, Jake’s Law was named after Jake’s Place, a playground in Cherry Hill created in honor of Jacob Cummings-Nasto, who passed away due to complications from heart surgery at 2 1⁄2 years old. He was born with hypoplastic heart syndrome and the park was a preferred place for physical therapy.
Jake’s Law encourages the construction of inclusive playgrounds designed with standards consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The state’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) adopted regulations for Jake’s Law that establish standards for completely inclusive playgrounds in 2018.
For the 2024 funding round, Green Acres is incentivizing inclusive projects by making available 75% matching grants to counties and municipalities for completely inclusive playgrounds. Awards are anticipated to be between $750,000 and $1 million for counties and $500,000 and $750,000 for municipalities, depending on the scope of the project.
The intention of Jake’s Law is to ensure that all children have access to playgrounds and recreational amenities, regardless of their physical abilities or neurodiversity.
Monmouth County Leads the Way
One of the first inclusive playgrounds in the state was Challenger Place, located at Dorbrook Recreation Area in Colts Neck. The play area opened in 2004 and was a joint venture between nonprofit RallyCap Sports and the Monmouth County Park System.
RallyCap Sports, formerly Challenged Youth Sports, was founded in 1990 by Paul and Margo Hooker and is dedicated to expanding recreation opportunities for children of all abilities. Initially, the organization created sports leagues for children with disabilities, later expanding to increase playground accessibility.
“We heard that a lot of children had trouble navigating regular playgrounds,” said Paul Hooker. He said RallyCap Sports’ first inclusive playground project at Dorbrook Park came about after a fourth-grade class from Nut Swamp Elementary School in Middletown sent heartfelt letters to the charity.
“They put letters in our mailbox of an article that said that for a child in a wheelchair, the worst part of their day was recess,” Hooker said, which raised important questions for RallyCap.
In their first playground project, RallyCap provided sand tables for the Challenger Place project, allowing children in wheelchairs the opportunity to enjoy sandboxes with their able-bodied friends.
“They were elevated, where the child could pull their wheelchair underneath the sand table and then play in the sand with their hands and their friends and their trucks and all that the same way that others did,” Hooker explained.
Following the success of Challenger Place, RallyCap Sports moved on to other inclusive playground projects, increasing playground accessibility for children with disabilities. The organization provided inclusive play equipment for Tony’s Place at Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park, Long Branch and for Baltimore Park in Sea Girt, and built an entire inclusive playground at Carter Park in Bowling Green, Ohio, where Hooker attended college.
In addition to sand tables, RallyCap Sports’ projects feature inclusive equipment like sway swings, where children in wheelchairs can enjoy swings with their peers, and roller slides, where children with hearing aids can slide without worrying about static electricity interfering with their devices. Ramps are also incorporated so children in wheelchairs can reach elevated areas and enjoy heights.
“Parents told us that our children in wheelchairs can never achieve heights. They can never go up and see anything. So, we built an accessible ramp at Dorbrook in Colts Neck so that they can actually roll their wheelchair all the way to the top of it, sit up there and overlook the entire playground and everything else,” Hooker explained.
“It just makes a world of difference because now these kids can go there and play with their able-bodied friends,” he added.
Other Towns Hope To Benefit
Last week The Two River Times reported on Little Silver’s planned inclusive playground for Sickles Park. Other Two River area towns have also applied for funds through the Jake’s Law grant program.
Holmdel Township administrator Jay Delaney shared during the latest governing body meeting Jan. 23 that Holmdel is seeking funds in the amount of $525,000 for a project at Cross Farm on Longbridge Road between County Route 520 and Swimming River Reservoir.
“These improvements are to replace an existing playground facility with an all-inclusive playground facility,” said Delaney. There are no expansions planned and the park will essentially maintain its existing footprint, he noted.
According to the township, the total cost for the project is $700,000. That estimate includes not only the removal of the existing playground at the cost of $61,000 but also the final installation of the new equipment by a certified installer, estimated at $145,184. Synthetic turf surfacing for the playground area is estimated at $187,696; standard equipment is expected to cost $226,120 and a custom baseball glove climber and a custom soccer climber slide will cost $40,000 each.
Oceanport In recent years, the borough has focused on recreation and invested in many of its parks, including Evergreen Park, Community Center Park and Maria Gatta Park. Now the borough’s biggest park, Blackberry Bay Park, is in its crosshairs with an application for Jake’s Law funding for an inclusive playground.
“The park is very well used,” said borough administrator Donna Phelps. “The playground that is there hasn’t been updated since 2019,” she said, also noting the aging wood chips on the playing surface.
The estimated project cost for the inclusive playground is $426,000. “If we get the grant, the grant would be $319,500. So, for a little more than $100,000 we can have a state-of-the-art, all-inclusive playground,” Phelps said.
Mayor Thomas Tvrdik said the governing body has been focusing on the borough’s parks, and “since we do not have an inclusive playground, adding this type of facility would ensure that every child, regardless of ability, can experience the joy of play.”
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed on this because it’d be a great grant to get,” Phelps said.
A public hearing on the project will occur Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. at the borough hall. The community is encouraged to share comments and feedback at the meeting or send them to borough clerk Jeanne Smith at jsmith@oceanportboro.com, or by calling borough hall.
Monmouth Beach Although not through Jake’s Law, Monmouth Beach – which currently has only two small parks – is looking to create a third passive park open to all. Borough officials are applying for a Green Acres grant to acquire two lots in a residential neighborhood at 11 Robbin St.
According to the application documents posted on the borough’s website, the estimated total project cost is over $1.5 million which includes the purchase of the land. The site is currently vacant, grass-covered and moderately sloped. There is a temporary fire department building in use on the site that is scheduled to be removed by March. The borough is eligible and has applied for a Green Acres grant request of $382,000.
In addition to providing a future park area, the borough has been trying to improve stormwater management and increase resiliency in this flood-prone area. The land acquisition will help that to a certain degree and create a new passive park available to all.
The public is encouraged to attend a public hearing to learn more about the proposal and application and to ask questions or provide comments on the proposed plan at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1.
The meeting will be held in person at 22 Beach Road as part of a special borough commissioners meeting. Residents can also submit written comments on the proposed application to borough administrator Anthony Villane at avillane@monmouthbeach.org.
The article originally appeared in the February 1 – 7, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
