Photo by Allison Perrine
MIDDLETOWN — Basketball and tennis courts, a playground, roller hockey rink and baseball field currently sit at the foot of the winding entrance-way to Normandy Park on Nutswamp Road.
Soon, two multiuse turf fields will be added to the mix, following the township committee’s approval of an almost $5.15 million 15-year bond ordinance for the work. Officials expect upgrades to begin in early spring 2020.
“There is tremendous demand on fields from various leagues, especially soccer and lacrosse,” said Tony Mercantante, township administrator. The field will be striped for soccer, lacrosse and field hockey.
According to Don Kameno, president of the Middletown Soccer Club, soccer terrain has evolved from all players competing on fields designed for traditional 11 versus 11, full-sided soccer fields, to now include small-sided fields for seven or nine players per team. “As a result, additional fields are required to support this change,” he said. “There are more teams in the younger ages,” he said, where team rosters are usually smaller than 11 per side.
The change in field requirements has also limited the township’s ability to properly maintain and rest grass fields, said Kameno. Increasing the number of synthetic turf fields will give the township the “ability to rest grass fields and keep them in better and safer playing condition,” Mercantante said.
Additionally, the township does not have facilities with lights for the small-sided teams, Kameno said. “This means small-sided Middletown teams need to play home games away if the originally scheduled match was postponed due to inclement weather,” he said.
That will change once the turf fields are implemented at Normandy Park. “The township has done an excellent job of realigning activities with the available facilities,” said Kameno. “The enhancement to Normandy continues along that strategy.”
According to Kameno, the township pursued other options throughout the years but encountered concerns from the public, mostly about location. “However, the Normandy location is ideal and quite frankly appeases all the public concerns at reasonable cost.”
As someone who played soccer in Middletown youth leagues for years, resident Stephen McGeever, 24, said he supports the township’s plan. “A small-sided field for seven versus seven would be great if they were able to organize leagues as well,” he said. McGeever noted that the former Tab Ramos sports complex in Aberdeen, which had an indoor turf field for soccer, has changed ownership. The newly named Highline Arena no longer services soccer; it instead hosts indoor volleyball. Because of this, he called the improvements for turf fields at Normandy Park “a great opportunity” that could fill a need in the area.
Normandy Park is located near Nutswamp Elementary School, Thompson Middle School and Middletown High School South.
The public will be invited to use the fields and anyone interested will be able to reserve the fields for appropriate uses, Mercantante said.
The bond ordinance arrives a year after the township announced plans to roll out a multiyear, multi-park refurbishment project to brings upgrades to 10 of the township’s 49 active parks and passive recreation spots. That includes parks located from the small village of Lincroft to the Bayshore communities along Sandy Hook Bay.
In February 2017, the township committee approved a resolution for a $1.4 million township-wide, four-year park improvement plan at 10 different open spaces in Middletown. The parks included were Normandy Park, Tindall Park, McMahon Park, Croydon Hall Park, Fairview Acres Park, Lincroft Acres Park, Bodman Park, Nutswamp School Fields, Hillside Park and Poricy Park.
A list of the township’s park facilities can be found at middletownnj.org/facilities.
