This is a followup to a story about the new Beesley’s Point Park that appeared on Oct. 20
BEESLEYS POINT — Welcome to Cape May County.
That’s the message officials hope to send through creation of Beesley’s Point Park, a collaboration among Upper Township, Cape May County and the county Open Space Board.
The park, located on Harbor Road overlooking Great Egg Harbor Bay, was dedicated in a ceremony Oct. 19 that celebrated the partnership that made it happen.
Serving as a demonstration site for the county’s new Creative Placemaking Plan, the park is intended to set a brand identity for recreational open space projects throughout the county.
Creative Placemaking is intended to engage the community through art, culture and design, and includes common elements such as lighting, seating, signage, pavilions, color schemes and more, according to the plan, available at capemaycountynj.org.
Mayor Rich Palombo spoke, noting he will be wrapping up 22 years as mayor at the end of the year. He said he was pleased the project came together while he was still in office.
“I’m proud this is my last hurrah in Upper Township,” he said.
Palombo thanked the Open Space Board for coming up with “a great way to create a gateway to the county that we can all be proud of.”
County Commissioner Will Morey also addressed the crowd, which was made up of members of the public, township and county officials as well as public works employees who took part in the construction.
Morey said the park is a “great example of how we can raise the bar on quality of life.”
“The site features both passive and active recreation. You can arrive by foot, bike, boat and car. It’s a place to just hang out and decompress,” Morey said.
He thanked the taxpayers for approving the open space tax in 1989, saying the Open Space and Farmland Preservation Program was expanded to include the development of parks, recreational amenities and historic preservation in 2013.
The 1-cent tax on each $100 of assessed property value generates about $5 million annually and has preserved about 4,500 acres of open space and farmland since its inception, according to the plan.
Morey said the partners are currently working on Phase II of the project, which will include more improvements.
Peter Lomax, chairman of the Open Space Board, said everyone really understood the concept of Creative Placemaking and carried it through from design to construction.
He said the idea was to create an aesthetic unique to the local environment, including the beach, wetlands, farmlands and forests of the cape.
“We started to reimagine what open space could be three years ago,” he said. “There was lots of preserved land and opportunities but they lacked infrastructure that would invite those who visit to explore and discover.”
He said input from stakeholders in the community was refined by professionals to create a design plan.
“They came up with a set of tools that provides a trail map with light posts made of wood, wave patterns repeated in furnishings and trash receptacles, all that include a sense of who we are,” he said.
Lomax said the park now serves as a model for Creative Placemaking. Open spaces will thrive throughout the county and more will be built according to a brand unique to Cape May County open spaces, he said.
“It’s the perfect site,” Lomax said, noting it re-establishes the connection with Atlantic County that was lost when the Beesleys Point Bridge was demolished.
“The park exists in a place we can all be proud of and celebrate,” he said, noting it’s where the Great Egg Harbor and Tuckahoe rivers merge.
Barbara Murphy-Leary, brand manager of Dompierre LLC in Upper Township, was pleased with the new park.
“It’s nice to have a destination with multiple facets,” she said, noting the many opportunities for eco-tourism in the township.
An osprey serves as the symbol of the program and is used on all marketing materials and officials documents.
“The osprey’s distinctive appearance, its habitat in both inland and coastal landscapes and its migratory habit make it the ideal symbol for the Open Space Program,” according to the plan. “The color scheme is based on the rich tones of the landscape and built environment. The wave pattern on the inside of the logo alludes to the iconic coastal landscapes. Additionally, the circular geometry references multiple iconic nautical themes.”
The site was picked because it is the northern part of the county on the mainland and next to the landing of a new Garden State Parkway bridge that includes a pedestrian trail alongside crossing Great Egg Harbor Bay.
“This site will be the effective northern gateway to Cape May County. The site is also visible to motorists traveling south on the Garden State Parkway and provides a great opportunity to establish a positive first impression,” the plan states.
The site includes an existing beach and paddlecraft launch with a new shade trellis, boardwalk, attendant stand, seating and parking, as well as a picnic shelter, restrooms, a bottle-filling station and various cycling amenities.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
