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Residents urge pause on Weequate Park renovation; county says project is a refurbishment and pledges more outreach
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Summary
Residents asked commissioners to pause work on a Weequate Park baseball‑field renovation, saying they were not consulted; county officials said the work is a refurbishment requested by school and municipal leaders and promised better advance notification and community meetings.
Winifred Victor Hines, executive director of the Weequate Park Association, urged the Essex County Board of County Commissioners to pause construction and meet with neighborhood stakeholders before proceeding with renovations at Weequate Park, saying residents were not given adequate notice and that petition signatures oppose the project.
"You guys continue to do whatever it is that you want," Hines told the board, adding that promises to arrange a meeting had gone unanswered and asking for written follow‑up and transparency. She also questioned whether vendors on county contracts include minority‑owned firms and raised concerns about repeated no‑bid awards.
County administration responded that the project is not a new field but a refurbishment. "This is not a new field. We're just refurbishing the field and modernizing the field," said Mister Jackson of the Office of the County Administrator, who said the administration had received letters from the local superintendent of schools, the mayor and a councilman requesting improvements so school teams could play safely and locally.
A vice president of the board emphasized the park’s heavy use and said the administration will improve advance notification. "If our kids need and use that field, then we have to make sure that field is tended to," the commissioner said, and announced a personal commitment to host periodic updates for parks in the district so residents know what to expect and why the work is happening.
Other residents at the meeting echoed both viewpoints. Michelle Boynton, a long‑time park user, said residents want more than a single focus on baseball and asked for engagement with athletic directors and broader programming. Dana Murray, a Newark resident, said local schools that use Weequate Park lack baseball fields and that the superintendent and mayor requested improvements so students would not have to play away games.
The meeting produced no formal vote on the field itself. Commissioners and staff said next steps would include providing clearer, earlier notices about park renovations and arranging a meeting between Parks Department staff, community representatives and interested commissioners. Staff also offered to provide written answers to the procurement and vendor‑diversity questions Hines raised, and Hines left a petition with staff for the record.
The board moved on to its remaining agenda items after the public‑comment period and did not adopt a separate resolution related specifically to the Weequate Park pitch during this session.
