By: Richard L. Smith
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced that a new synthetic grass playing surface was installed on the soccer field in Essex County Irvington Park on Thursday, September 28th.
The project is part of the County Executive’s ongoing initiative to revitalize the Essex County Parks System and provide the most up-to-date recreation facilities.
“Soccer is a very popular sport, and I want to make sure we have athletic facilities that meet the needs of our children and provide our children with safe, modern fields to play on,” DiVincenzo said.
“Joe has always been supportive of updating the county parks, especially Irvington Park. This is a phenomenal improvement to this soccer field, and we appreciate how supportive he has been to our township and our children,” Irvington Mayor Tony Vauss said.
“On my way here, I thought about all the people who will benefit from this new field and will play on this field. I want to thank the County Executive for his ongoing attention to Irvington Park,” NJ State Senator Renee Burgess said.
“Joe is always working to improve and upgrade our parks. This is an amazing soccer field, and our children are going to love it,” Irvington Council President Jamillah Beasley said.
“Joe and his team leave nothing untouched, and they do an amazing job continually improving our parks,” Irvington Councilman Glenn Vick said.
“Whenever I visit Irvington Park, I think of my husband Bilal because his heart was in this park. I appreciate you continuing to improve and enhance this park for the community,” said Baseemah Bealey, wife of the late Essex County Commissioner and Irvington Councilman D. Bilal Beasley.
The Essex County Department of Public Works designed the field improvements in-house and monitored the project so delays were avoided.
Applied Landscape Technologies from East Hanover was awarded a publicly bid contract for $838,397 to perform the construction work. Funding was provided with a grant from the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund.
The project started in June and was completed in three months.
