Improvements are in process to make parks more handicap accessible

wheelchair loading into van

Grover Cleveland Park, the seventh largest of The Essex County Park System (the first county park system established in America), is also the latest one in New Jersey to see improvements that will make facilities more handicap accessible.

Thanks to various state grants, the park will soon have two van-accessible parking spaces, handicap accessible tables in the picnic area, ADA-compliant walking paths, new signage, and various landscape upgrades, the Caldwell Patch reports.

In 2010, the Department of Justice made a major revision in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For the first time since 1990 (when ADA was first enacted), detailed directions on how to make recreation facilities, including parks and swimming pools, accessible were included. In order to comply with the changes in the standard, swimming pools, parks, golf courses, boating facilities, exercise clubs, and other recreation facilities have adopted measures to make their facilities more disabled-friendly.

“When it was brought to our attention that changes were needed to make Grover Cleveland Park more accessible for people with disabilities, we moved ahead to make the improvements,” Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo said. “Revitalizing our parks and making sure they meet the needs of the community have been priorities of my administration so that everyone has access to open space and recreation.”

All individuals should be provided with equal leisure opportunities; the construction of more accessible parks is a part of this initiative. Various parks like Old Troy County Park in Morris County have already made such changes to better comply with the ADA, and similar changes are planned for Concourse Hill and Branch Brook Park in Essex County. ADA improvements like these aren’t restricted to New Jersey; they can be seen at parks across the country. Rancho Santa Fe Association in California has approved construction of ADA ramps in the Village parks.

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