Westvale Park Dedication Will Happen After Playground is Complete

Westwood officials decided Tuesday that the dedication for will take place after the playground is complete, though a concrete date was not chosen.

Health and Recreation Chair Ingrid Quinn recommended waiting to dedicate the facility. "I still feel that I need to recommend that we do an opening after we have a better date of when the playground is actually going to be done and have grand opening when the park is complete," she said.

No one objected to the recommendation and council members agreed that the event would be a park dedication similar to the groundbreaking at the start of the project.

Quinn said with the projected playground completion date, she expected the dedication to occur sometime at the end of October or early November. Council members approved a resolution Tuesday night authorizing a bid for construction of the playground and the purchase of playground equipment.

Government officials also discussed the sign for Westvale Park, which is needed before the dedication. Quinn held up a rendition of a proposed green sign that read "Westvale Park Recreation Complex." She recommended using the color of the sign outside the municipal complex instead, which is a darker shade of green.

Mayor John Birkner Jr. said the sign should be exactly the same as the complex sign, reading "Borough of Westwood Westvale Recreation Complex." Council members agreed.

Quinn also suggested that the Westvale steering committee be dissolved. "I think we've reached the end of our need," she said, explaining that any large financial decisions by the recreation director or borough administrator would be brought before the council. No one raised objections. The steering committee had been meeting every other week to discuss items that needed to be closed out for the park's completion and any other park related issues.

The athletic fields at Westvale Park were all opened Monday, according to Quinn, so the facility is fully open for use.

The next Westwood council meeting is scheduled for Aug. 16.