Kingsway Beatification Project Underway
WOOLWICH TWP. — Kingsway’s campus is undergoing a major beautification project involving the planting of 83 indigenous and ornamental trees that will act as sound and visual buffer from the busy intersection at Route 322 and Kings Highway.
Earlier this year, the board of education graciously accepted a proposal from the township’s all-volunteer Shade Tree Commission, to fund a major landscaping project with monies from the local Tree Replacement Escrow Account that is administered by the Commission. This fund is paid into largely by developers when forest resources are cleared as the result of new development.
The $26,175 project was recently awarded to Eaise Design & Landscape, which began installing the large trees on Nov. 5. The collaborative effort involves Woolwich Township municipal officials, the Shade Tree Commission, Kingsway administrators, and Alan Koch, landscape architect from the Gloucester County Parks & Recreation.
Kristina Merola, a local resident who heads-up the Shade Tree Commission, said her group is advancing a number of initiatives in the community, including a recent reforestation project along Oldmans Creek. “We are proud to invest the Commission’s resources on a project that will positively benefit so many while providing ongoing educational value to generations of students.”
The Commission is looking at projects that both enhance the built and natural environment, and already has plans in the works for future projects at the township municipal complex and General Charles G. Harker School. Dr. James J. Lavender, Superintendent of Schools for Kingsway Regional said, “We are very pleased to have such a proactive partner in Woolwich Township. Clearly the school is an important focal point in the community, as are our children, and we are grateful to see a project like this happen that will create a more healthful and aesthetically pleasing environment for them.”
