Big Turnout to Hear Claypit Creek Renovation Plans

Middletown, NJ - More than 75 people showed up last Thursday to a community meeting at All Saints' Memorial Church in Navesink to discuss the Monmouth County Park System's controversial plans for the Claypit Creek section of Hartshorne Woods Park.

"Many of (those who attended) are only just learning about the county park system’s plans for the first time, as the public notice for this development was extremely limited," said Middletown resident Christina Summerfield, who helped organize the meeting, and who opposes the project.

Monmouth County wants to add public restrooms to the park; increase parking from the 25 spots there now to 90; build an elevated boardwalk along the water for activities like crabbing and fishing; build a kayak and canoe launch; replace the rotting bulkhead with a "living" shoreline and build a pedestrian trail and a patio overlooking the creek. Monmouth County also plans to build a gazebo-like open shelter at the site and rent it out for events. Earlier, the county suggested those events could possibly be weddings.

Summerfield has said those events were first marketed to hold up to 300 people. Parties like that will bring noise, traffic, litter and congestion to what is now a very quiet, wooded residential area, she said.

"We had a strong representation from residents of Locust Point Road (some who live directly across from Claypit) that found it hard to believe they weren’t included in the public notice efforts," Summerfield told Patch.

The county has since backed off the idea to rent the space out for weddings, Monmouth County Park's head landscape architect Joe Sardonia told the Asbury Park Press, and events would be capped at 75 people. Besides that, Karen Livingstone, a spokeswoman for Monmouth County Parks, previously told Patch that Monmouth County already occasionally rents out the Claypit Creek area, and erects a large tent when it does so. The gazebo would just be a more permanent structure, she said. The county would also build a designated area for a tent pad.

Kayak and canoe launch will make park more accessible, Monmouth County says

Monmouth County has said the renovations will make the park more accessible to all. Claypit Creek is the only part of Hartshorne Woods that provides easy access to the Navesink River for kayakers and canoers.

Also, the county is required to build a boardwalk to make Claypit Creek accessible to those in wheelchairs and make the park ADA-compliant, Livingstone said last week. And the 800-foot rotting wooden bulkhead needs to be replaced regardless, she said.

“The design is really not that intensive" Sardonia told the Asbury Park Press. "Contrary to expectations, it’s pretty minor actually.”

Claypit's neighbors are not appeased. Summerfield said local residents are forming a non-profit to battle Monmouth County's plans, and will elect an executive board soon.

"A non-profit will give us the ability to fundraise for legal help, if we decide to go that road," she told Patch. "It was so reassuring to see so many neighbors who are concerned for Claypit."

Should Monmouth County proceed as planned, construction will not start for another 12 to 18 months.

Photos: Residents concerned about Claypit Creek renovations attend a meeting Thursday night at All Saints' Church. Photos provided by Christina Summerfield.