Essex County has closed Verona Park’s relatively new playground for a complete resurfacing that County officials could take until June 3 to complete. While Verona Park is located in Verona, it is part of the Essex County park system and the County is responsible for park maintenance and improvements. Jay Coltre, the County liaison to Verona, said at Monday night’s Town Council meeting that the work had to be done now because the temperature must be 50 or higher for the new surfacing to be put down.
The park playground was completely renovated in 2017 and a rubberized surface was laid down around all the new playground equipment. Now the surfacing material is being removed. Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. said on social media three days ago that the playground surface “is in bad shape.” A County spokesman said the Verona playground gets very high traffic and the surface is “worn.” It is not known what rubber surfacing product was used in the 2017 renovation, but installers of bonded rubber surfacing say it should last five years while makers of poured-in-place rubber surfacing say it can last 10 years or more.
Coltre told the Council he hoped the work would be finished sooner than expected.
