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Construction on the Springwood Avenue Park and Recreation Area in Asbury Park is underway.

Ground-breaking was last week on the lot off Springwood Avenue between Atkins and Union avenues. The first item on the park’s construction agenda is a playground in the northwest corner of the lot [pictured in background at top.]

The park will be built in three phases, according to Joe Cunha, the city’s engineer. Phase one includes the playground, as well as a fountain area with a courtyard and chess tables.

The playground area should be finished within the next two weeks, depending on the weather, Cunha said.

“I split out the playground because that was easy enough to do, and get it here quickly for the kids this summer,” he said.

The second phase of the project will include a civic plaza and a raised stage area.

A lawn panel on the east side of the park for pickup soccer games and other active recreation completes the third and final phase of the project.

To protect the lawn panel’s longevity, the surface “will be made of specific types of turf that are made to take a beating,” said Cunha.

The last two elements tying the park together are a walking path around the perimeter and a “gated, ornate fence all the way around,” he said.

A large portion of the project is being funded by the Municipal Open Space Grant Program through the Monmouth County Park System. Two Open Space grants for $250,000 each were given to the project, one in 2010 and another in 2012, Cunha said.

The county granting funds to the same project twice is “unprecedented,” according to Cunha, who applied for the two grants by breaking the project down into three phases.

Cunha applied for another $250,000 from the 2013 grant fund to finish the project.

“We have a good feeling that we should get a third quarter million, for a total of $750,000, this year,” he said. “I’m trying to build this park by the end of this year.”

The city is also contributing funds to the park’s construction.

Ideas for the creation of a west side recreation area started in 2004 after the city bought the Springwood Avenue Park property and several other properties in the area from a developer that went under, Cunha said.

[A close-up of the park’s architectural rendering is shown at above at right.]

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