Aquatic Playground, New Tennis/Pickleball Courts Coming To Laurel Hill

SECAUCUS, NJ — Many Secaucus residents may not be aware of all the changes coming to Laurel Hill Park.

Laurel Hill Park is owned and maintained by Hudson County, and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is spending millions in Green Acres funding to make major park upgrades. Here's what the DEP is building at Laurel Hill:

- An updated playground next to the Hackensack River. This playground will be much bigger than it was before and will now include a splash pad and a water park. The DEP calls it "an aquatic playground."

- Tennis courts. A very large area of combination tennis courts/pickleball courts has been built in the back of the park, in the shadow of Snake Hill and near the soccer fields and baseball fields.

- Basketball courts have been built near the tennis courts. There is a blue gazebo people can sit under.

- Volleyball turf. A volley ball turf area was added near the basketball courts.

All of these courts are currently under construction, but are scheduled to open this summer, said Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli.

That is not all. The state DEP also plans to build "wildlife habitat gardens and native landscaping, most notably the planting of more than 300 new trees" at Laurel Hill. "A living shoreline along the Hackensack River would be stabilized, the boat ramp would be repaired, and upstream dock replaced."

This is in addition to the already-new tennis courts and basketball courts that have been built next to High Tech High School at Laurel Hill, plus a second new small playground. These courts are already completed and open to the public for use. These tennis/basketball courts can be used by any resident of XChange or Secaucus town resident.

State says Secaucus is "an overburdened community"

Interestingly, Secaucus was chosen to receive this Green Acres funding because the state has determined Secaucus is an "Adversely Stressed Overburdened Community," under New Jersey's new Environmental Justice Law.

New Jersey is the first state in the nation to pass a law such as the Environmental Justice Law, and it is meant to protect New Jersey towns that have already had more than their share of pollution in the past.

Here is how the state of New Jersey defines an "overburdened community:"

An overburdened community is any census block group, as determined in accordance with the most recent United States Census, in which: (1) at least 35 percent of the households qualify as low-income households; (2) at least 40 percent of the residents identify as minority or (3) at least 40 percent of the households have limited English proficiency.

Here are all the Adversely Stressed Overburdened Communities in Urban Aid municipalities, and here is the listing just for Secaucus: https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/...

These communities are so designated because they have a combined stressor total higher than the 50th percentile for total environmental and public health stressors.