Parks & Rec Group to Focus on Field Usage, Hockey Rink This Year

Field usage is a top priority for the parks and recreation department this year as the group reforms under the direction of Committeeman Don Brauckmann.

And Brauckmann, the director of parks and recreation, said that is a “massive undertaking.”

“We really want to think of a coordinated approach for field usage,” Brauckmann said “It’s costs a lot of money to light our fields.”

With that in mind, Brauckmann and the parks and recreation members have invited all Cinnaminson sports commissioners to their February meeting to “put our heads together and think how can we do this.”

Brauckmann said he hopes the group can come up with a master schedule to maximize field usage at Wood and Memorial parks.

“Hopefully we can come up with ideas,” he said.

The group will also look at the township master plan and this year, focus on East Riverton and Ravenswood parks. In the past few years, improvements have been made to the township’s other parks, namely Wood, Memorial and Fountain Farms.

Brauckmann said they want to talk about “what we can do with those two parks and can we afford to do?”

Advertising and promoting concerts, recreational activities and more is also on this year’s agenda.

“We’re going to try and market our events better this year,” Brauckmann said, although he admitted attendance has been up for summer concerts.

Finally, the group wants to evaluate the state of the hockey rink.

“The interest in the hockey rink has been hot and cold,” Brauckmann said.

Every so often, a group expresses interest in helping to save it or use it, but nothing really comes of it, the committeeman said.

More people were using it at the end of last year though, Brauckmann said, but township committee doesn’t want to put money into something that won’t be used frequently.

“If leagues want to use it,” Brauckmann said, “we’ll have to invest money in there and make it safe enough for recreational use.”

There could be added use for the rink if Brauckmann moves forward with discussions to bring in fitness businesses that want to hold outdoor exercise activity in the township parks.

This year, “we’re really trying to evaluate if there’s interest in groups using it before we put money into it.”

The parks and recreation meetings are open to the public. The group meets the first Thursday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the small conference room of the Cinnaminson Township Municipal Building.

The parks and recreation group is an ad hoc advisory committee. There have no jurisdiction and members report to the township committee to offer ideas and suggestions. 

What would you like to see done to the township parks? Leave your comments below and if we get enough interest in a few topics, we'll do an interview with Don Brauckmann similar to the interview with Mayor Ben Young.