Message from Deputy Mayor Matt Adams | January 30, 2025
This represents my first Messenger column since being nominated by my colleagues to serve as Deputy Mayor. Please let me start by once again thanking the Township Council for the faith and trust the members have placed in me.
In our system of government, the five members of the Council select a member to serve as Deputy Mayor. There is nothing more gratifying than to have the support of my colleagues!
If you did not hear my remarks at the Jan. 21 council meeting upon accepting the nomination, you can find the video here. My remarks begin at 3:10.
I directed my remarks at the historic ways Scotch Plains is moving forward. We are working on the things that have evaded progress in our community for far too long, each and every day. From public safety to downtown revitalization to inclusivity, we have seen progress. Ours is, indeed, a community on the rise. Our best days are yet to come if we continue to dream big and work together.
One of the most significant ways that Scotch Plains is moving forward as a community is with the township’s once overlooked portfolio of parks and recreation facilities. Since 2021, we have substantially rehabilitated or have immediate near-term plans to rehabilitate practically all our township parks, in big ways and little ways, to make them the type of amenities that our residents deserve. While it will not happen overnight, it is most definitely happening!
There’s three exciting municipal parks construction projects underway:
- At historic Kramer Manor Park, all the courts have been ripped out on the park’s lower level to accommodate new, state-of-the-art, tennis, pickleball, and basketball courts that are expected to be completed this spring. Workers are preparing the site with fence poles, footings, and other excavation work so that, as soon as the weather breaks, the new courts can be paved and painted.
- At Brookside Park, the temporary pickleball courts will make way to an all-new pickleball facility, capturing the high demand. If you visit Brookside, like Kramer Manor, you will see continued site work.
- In what can only be described as one of our biggest park transformations yet, work will shortly begin Phase 2 of construction at Green Forest Park. A new play set is on order, similar to the one installed at the Greenside Playground. This comes on the heels of last year’s grand opening of the new tennis, pickleball, and roller hockey facilities at the park that replaced the long-blighted and entirely-unusable tennis courts.
All of this progress at Scotch Plains’ municipal parks is matched by some equally exciting news about the long-anticipated renovation project by Union County at the County Vo-Tech Schools property. Just this week, Scotch Plains’ land use boards completed their site plan review and approval process, allowing the county to commence the redesign and rehabilitation project at the Raritan Road ballfields.
This project, undertaken by Union County with the support and cooperation of Scotch Plains, shows the cooperation among governmental entities to meet the increasing demand for parks, recreation, and youth athletic space in our community.
I would also like to commend Union County for addressing some lingering playability issues that continue at the Route 22 ballfield. The field sits adjacent to water runoff from the Watchung Mountains. With a substantial enough rainfall or snow melt, a spillway floods the baseball field like a bathtub, causing major disruptions and persistent erosion of the specialized infield clay that is needed.
I met with representatives of the County this Fall, and unfortunately no reengineering of the Route 22 ballfield will adequately prevent the persistent flooding in the absence of the long-contemplated, but never attempted, re-routing of entire waterways.
Such work can only be undertaken by a sophisticated group like the Army Corps of Engineers with extensive federal funding. Nonetheless, along with other municipal officials, I convinced the County about how important that field is to our youth sports programs, in particular youth baseball. In response, the County has made some short-term improvements to the site.
The realities that we face with the Route 22 facility further emphasize just how important it is for the Vo-Tech project to get rolling. Our productive partnership with Union County continues to serve as an example of how to work cooperatively for the good of Scotch Plains residents with all stakeholders.
On the subject of parks and recreation partnerships, I am also optimistic that a forthcoming meeting now on the calendar for February 7 between representatives of the Township and officials from the Scotch Plains-Fanwood regional school district will address the vast and underutilized field space behind our community’s two middle schools.
Those fields are long overdue for rehabilitation, and, if properly revitalized, could provide much needed capacity to our community’s various youth organizations. As it stands now, the property is largely unusable. But, as these fields belong to the school district and not the Township, it is going to require a joint effort to get projects done.
So, as you settle in to the dog days of winter, know that your municipal governing body is continuing the historic emphasis it has placed on parks and recreation over the last several years, along with all of the other priorities that you have brought to our attention.
Never hesitate to reach out to me or one of my colleagues with a question or comment. My email address is
