Vineland's Jake's Park advances with inclusive play, sensory garden

A park built around access, not just amenities

Vineland's first special needs park is finally in motion at the Romano Youth Sports Complex, but the milestone that matters most to families is still ahead: the day Jake's Park actually opens for use. The April 13 groundbreaking moved the project out of the planning stage and into construction, turning a long-discussed public promise into a concrete investment in access, play and daily life for Cumberland County families.

What makes the project significant is not just that it adds new recreation space. It is designed around different needs at the same time, with inclusive playground equipment, a sensory garden and an aquatic splash area among its main features. For parents, caregivers and children who have often had to work around limited equipment or inaccessible parks, that combination could make this one of the most useful public spaces in Vineland once the work is finished.

What families will find at Jake's Park

The park plan calls for eight activity areas, and seven of them are playground zones with accessible equipment. That matters because the project is not being built as a single playground with a token adaptive feature. It is being organized as a whole recreation site, one that gives children different ways to move, explore and play without forcing every family into the same setup.

The sensory garden is meant for children on the autism spectrum, adding a calmer space alongside the more active playground areas. The aquatic splash area gives the park a summer draw that can serve families who do not have private backyard recreation options, while the inclusive exercise circuit around the Ernie D. Marcacci track extends the site beyond children's play and into shared family use.

Other amenities are practical but important. Picnic tables, benches and improved parking signal that the city is planning for longer visits, easier drop-offs and a site that can work for caregivers as well as children. In a park built for inclusion, those details matter as much as the more visible play structures.

How the project got here

Jake's Park has been in planning since early 2021, which makes the April groundbreaking more than ceremonial. It marks the end of a long lead-up that involved grant rounds, contract approval and city-level coordination to get a specialized project into construction. Vineland awarded the construction contract to Command Company, Inc. for $3,481,700 on December 23, 2025.

Triad Associates says it helped secure $5,313,000 across four Green Acres grant rounds for the project. Put together, the documented grant funding and construction contract total $8,794,700, a substantial public outlay for a park in a city that already maintains 18 parks and recreational areas across about 405 acres.

That scale is part of what makes Jake's Park worth watching. Vineland is not short on green space, but this is the city's first special needs park. The question is not whether the city has parks. It is whether its park system is finally being shaped to reflect children and families who have been underserved by standard playground design.

Why this park matters in Cumberland County

The policy backdrop is Jake's Law, passed in 2018 to encourage inclusive playgrounds. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says Jake's Law and Green Acres funding are intended to ensure all children have access to playgrounds and recreational amenities, regardless of physical abilities or neurodiversity. Vineland's project shows how that state policy is being translated into a local site with specific features, not just broad language about accessibility.

That is why the comparison to Jake's Place in Cherry Hill matters. Jake's Place is nationally recognized as an inclusive playground, and Vineland is clearly using it as a model rather than trying to invent a concept from scratch. For local families, that suggests the city is trying to replicate a proven approach, one that already has a track record of bringing children with and without disabilities into the same play environment.

Mayor Anthony Fanucci, now in his third term after re-election in 2020 and 2024, has been the public face of the project. City materials say the groundbreaking brought together city council members, staff, community leaders and residents, reinforcing that this is being treated as a civic priority rather than a routine park upgrade.

What comes next

For now, the key milestone is not a ribbon cutting but the fact that work has begun. Families will be able to use Jake's Park only after construction is complete, equipment is installed and the site is ready for regular public access. Until then, the meaningful progress is visible in the design itself: seven inclusive playground areas, a sensory garden, a splash area, an exercise circuit and the kinds of seating and parking improvements that make a park easier to use from the moment a family arrives.

In a city that already manages a sizable recreation footprint, Jake's Park stands out because it changes the terms of access. It is built to give children with disabilities and their caregivers a place that does not ask them to adapt to a standard park, but instead adapts the park to them.