Medford Township Council held its first meeting of the month on Aug. 3 and heard residents express their concerns about a residential entryway in the Heritage at Medford development.
During public comment, resident Maryann Jackson explained that in the middle of last month, Heritage residents were unable to access the entry to their neighborhood because the only access point was blocked by downed trees and wires.
Jackson explained that having one access way to the neighborhood is difficult, and she requested that council provide another, possibly off Jennings Road. She described a situation in which residents of Heritage who have severe health issues were unable to attend to their medical needs.
“What is going to be done, because we are not going to stick with what we have,” said Jackson. “It is not workable. We are not going to sit back and be stuck again like we were on July 17.”
Council responded that further notifications regarding the blocked access point will be accessible on the notification app Nixel and the Medford Township newsletter.
“We are going to enact these things and make it much more easily openable and removable,” said Mayor Charles Watson. “The police will have direction if it ever gets blocked again. It is going to be their first priority to open that road up, and we will send out notification again on Nixel when that happens.”
Later in the council meeting, Alyssa Everett and another resident praised the skate area at Freedom Park and expressed their hope that construction on the rest of the skatepark will continue.
“I think with phase two of our park, we can broaden it in a lot of ways,” said Everett. “Our biggest target is to try and get the rest of our skatepark done before you put the Pickleball courts, because I think we have a lot of potential.”
Another member of the skate community spoke to council about making the park more accessible to younger kids who may shy away due to the lack of beginner obstacles.
“Most of the obstacles in the park are built with intermediate skaters who are comfortable riding ramps and dropping into bowls,” said the resident. “With little kids, with little to no experience with a board, they enter our park and they quickly leave because there are no beginner obstacles to get them comfortable on.”
Council members did not comment further on the skatepark. Their next meeting is Tuesday, Aug, 17.
For more information, visit https://www.medfordtownship.com/
