Brookside Park restoration pushed to spring 2010

SUSSEX — Sussex Borough has received an extension from the State of New Jersey to repair ball fields at Brookside Park by May 2010. The borough had received about $25,000 in aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help restore ball fields in low-lying Brookside Park that were damaged by flooding from an April 2007 nor’easter. But after the borough failed to repair two ball fields there following on-and-off discussions with two local youth sports leagues, FEMA demanded that the town return the money earlier this year. Since then, FEMA gave Sussex Borough a deadline of Dec. 31 to complete the work. But the borough hesitated since it didn’t want to interfere with football games being played there through early December by the High Point Hawks Midget Football Club, said Mayor Chris Parrott. Sussex Borough was recently granted an extension by the state to complete the project in May 2010. FEMA is expected to go along with the decision, said Parrott. Leagues relieved Scott Kenyon, vice president of the Sussex-Wantage Little League, which also uses ball fields at Brookside Park, said the league plans to convert the larger of the two fields there into a smaller baseball field to be used by children ages 5 to 12. The Little League decided to make these changes in cooperation with the football club since the football league uses part of the outfield on that field and the baseball league has another field that it uses in Wantage, said Kenyon. “We’re just happy to be getting the field back” at Brookside Park, said Kenyon. Restoration work Sussex Borough Engineer Harold Pellow will likely be gathering bids from contractors to do the restoration work at Brookside Park over the next several weeks, said Sussex Borough Clerk Catherine Gleason. Officials from both leagues said they planned to help with the work. Said Paul Pfeil, president of the High Point Hawks Midget Football Club, “We expect to help with the construction work. After all, it’s for the kids.” To help prevent the kind of flooding from Clove Brook when heavy rains have caused it to overflow its banks and submerge the ball fields at Brookside Park, the borough is working with the Wallkill River Watershed Management Group to try to clear downed trees that have effectively dammed up sections of Clove Brook since the April 2007 nor’easter, said Nathaniel Sajdak, the group’s coordinator. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection previously approved a $1.4 million watershed restoration plan for Clove Acres Lake, Clove Brook and Papakating Creek. If the DEP approves the initial clean-up work in Clove Brook, Sajdak said he’s hopeful that the downed trees could be cleared away within the next month.