‘Preschool Playground’ Proposed for Portion of Closed Street in Seaside Heights

Fremont Avenue near the High J. Boyd Elementary School, Seaside Heights, N.J. (Credit: Google Earth)

Officials at the Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School in Seaside Heights are planning to work with the borough council to build a new playground accessible to preschool-age students on a portion of a closed-off street – or another nearby area if that idea proves to be infeasible.

“The playground that exists right on the Kearney Avenue side [of the school] is designed for five-year-olds and older, and unfortunately our three existing preschool classrooms cannot use that safely,” said Suzanne Heagen, a preschool teacher at the Boyd school who is spearheading the project.

Most existing school playgrounds were built before New Jersey introduced programs that provided for public preschool classes, which drove their designs to be targeted toward a certain age group. In the case of Seaside Heights, the three preschool classes are not legally able to go to the existing playground across from the school building on Kearney Avenue. The idea, as the preschool population grows, is to build another playground that would be accessible to students that age on a portion of Fremont Avenue that is permanently closed off the traffic through the use of security gates.

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“We thought the town would consider either letting us use part of Fremont – which is permanently closed anyway because we don’t open those gates, like the Kearney side – to provide a safe playing space for our students at no cost to the town,” said Heagen.

Fremont Avenue runs from the boardwalk to Bay Avenue, however the portion of the roadway between Barnegat and Bay avenues is not open to vehicular traffic. The pavement still exists, but is off-limits to traffic by way of locking gates.

Fremont Avenue near the High J. Boyd Elementary School, Seaside Heights, N.J. (Credit: Google Earth)

The new playground would come at no cost to taxpayers, Heagen said, explaining that Berkeley Township school district officials – who provide administrative services to the Boyd school – have identified grant funding that would cover the cost of construction for the new playground, which would run several hundred thousands dollars. Before grant funding can be appropriated, however, it must be confirmed that the borough will allow the school to use the closed portion of the street for the project. The street, however, may not be formally vacated, meaning there may be a legal process involved in taking the street “off the books” as being accessible to traffic, even though it has long been blocked off by gates.

The project found support among borough council members, who pledged to work with the borough attorney on the street vacation issue. In the event that the street cannot be formally vacated, alternative locations for the playground would be a plot of land next to the existing playground on Kearney Avenue or another portion of the school property itself.

“The playground would be multi-use and multi-purpose, and the town residents would be able to use it outside school hours and all summer,” said Heagen.

When the best location is determined, school officials expect the funding to become available later this year, with construction being completed by spring of 2026. The playground would come as the Boyd school adds a fourth preschool class for the 2025-26 school year.

“If it’s legal, we’ll do it, and if it’s not, there are other alternatives,” said Mayor Anthony Vaz.