By DON STINE
NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP – A public park along South Riverside Drive in the Shark River Hills section of Neptune may have gone down during Superstorm Sandy but it was certainly not out.
On July 12 township officials and environmentalists rededicated the park, near the township marina on the Shark River, with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony. The park was formerly the site of the old Tides Motel, which was razed around 1997.
“I am so happy with the park and the local residents are too,” said Mindi Arcoleo, a member of the township’s Environmental/Shade Tree Commission.
Arcoleo said the park and its plantings were destroyed during Sandy but the commission received a $1,500 grant from the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commission to help reestablish the park. The township contributed the rest of the funding.
And the park looks totally renewed, not only with a brand-new, wooden gazebo, but with an American flag flapping in the breeze on a new flagpole, new rope-trimmed fencing, memorial benches, and landscaping appropriate for the waterfront site.
A stone monument noting water levels in the park during past major storms will also be installed in the park in the future.
