During the most recent town council meeting, the subject of Heritage Park was discussed. A local resident brought up the fact that the park was sorely in need of repairs and was essentially unusable. Councilman D'Andrea has been somewhat involved in attempting to factfind about the current conditions of the park. The exchange during the council meeting between the local resident, the mayor and the councilman can be found here.
The Heritage neighborhood does not have a Homeowner's Association and the park is NOT owned by the neighborhood. It is owned by the town.
While my sons went to Beeler and I have driven by this park hundreds of times, I have never been there, so I stopped by yesterday just to look around. The picture above is the entrance to the park off of Caldwell Avenue. While the entrance is tiny, the park is much bigger inside than it would appear from the street.
Above is the aerial shot showing the boundaries of the park. The park is surrounded by some woods which are very unkempt and wild - they are not walkable. The 1) looks like a nice empty lot, but this is an old overhead from Google Maps. The 1) lot is now the home of Givnish Funeral Home. The 2) indicates the entrance of the park.
At one time, the tennis courts were probably state of the art. Now they are in total disrepair and not usable. The courts are cracked everywhere, making pushing a stroller across them quite difficult. One of the courts is missing a net. While my 8 year old self thought that would be a perfect place to ride my bike or play street hockey, there were signs up indicating that only tennis could be played there.
To get to the playground, you need to go around the tennis courts. You can follow one of the two paths indicated in black in the picture below. The yellow marks the approximate location of chain link fence.
The top path takes you through the broken up pavement of the tennis courts. The bottom takes you through the grass. While it doesn't look far, pushing a stroller that distance through those conditions can prove quite challenging. By comparison, below is the park in the Country Farms neighborhood, also owned by the town. A paved path brings you right to the swingset and playscape.
Once you get past the tennis courts, there is alot of open grass for children to run around in. The playscape and swings are not in terrible condition. With some TLC and paint, I believe they can be rehabilitated. It should be noted, however, that other 'tot lots' of the same age and quality have been replaced at various parks around town in recent years.
The bench for parents probably needs to be replaced. The slats at one time were flat and comfortable.
Much of the park is surrounded by a chain link fence. The fence is in terrible condition, falling down in many places. The back of the park bordering the woodlands is unfenced, and the side of the park bordering Givnish is mostly unfenced as well. The fence bordering the houses on Walden Road also serves as the property line. The fence towards the houses on Caldwell Avenue separates the park from a small creek. The fact that the fence there is in disrepair probably poses additional risks to small children.
As to what happens now, during the latest Town Council meeting, a follow up meeting was proposed between the resident, the town manager and Councilman D'Andrea, and Mayor Brown offered up $2,500 from the Evesham Celebration Foundation to get things started.
Other town parks have been updated recently using town funds and state grants. The price tag to rehabilitate town parks far exceeds $2,500. At the September Town Council meeting, an ordinance was passed to spend $85,000 to rehabilitate 3 local parks. And since it would appear that most residents of Heritage want the tennis court removed rather than repaired, rehabilitating Heritage Park will probably be more costly than the other three.
List of Previous Blog Posts
Like my Facebook Page to get the latest posts - A View From Evesham. You can email me at MarltonNeil@yahoo.com.