The Sea Cliff Board of Trustees put forward a plan at their latest board meeting on Dec. 2 to develop an outdoor gym and bench for residents to utilize at one of the local parks.
The plan, approved at that meeting to develop the outdoor gym was formulated by Shannon Lee of Sea Cliff, who wanted to dedicate the equipment to her late son Justin, who died in January. Although they are not able to dedicate the gym to Justin, Shannon Lee still believes that this is an important project for the board to continue pursuing.
“I would go and stand at the beach and call him, and it was a place that he loved,” Lee said. “When I went to look at it, I thought it would be a great place to have a bench. I started thinking on it more and I thought this could be a great place to have an outdoor fitness area, and I knew he would love that because he was a former boxing instructor and would often take his students here to train.”
The plan is for the outdoor gym to be added to Memorial Park, inviting residents of all ages to use. Elena Villafane, the mayor of Sea Cliff, said that she believes that the new equipment can bring both teenagers and adults to the park.
“I think this project is very worthwhile and I think it is a wonderful idea. Right now, I think that the park is more for little kids, and this can extend it out,” Villafane said. “If we can take this as a swing to make the park more multigenerational, and have little kids, teenagers, and adults, I think the park then becomes something that is more usable by larger groups of people.”
The original proposed idea was for the Lee family to gather the amount necessary for the equipment through fundraising and donations. Villafane explained that she believed this project needed to be done by the village to avoid complications.
“One option that we have discussed that the village will commit to do the project and allow for the bench to be placed when the project is finished, rather than have the family do the fundraising for it,” Villafane said. “If we’re going to take a pulse on the conversation, I think that this is something I would like to do, but I want the village to do it.”
Villafane detailed about how the project would look. She brought up some financial concerns that some of the board members had and also talked about other things that would go into the project. Among them she mentioned that a memorial bench would be set up for Justin Lee after the completion of the project.
Other board members commented about the project before deciding to continuing to move forward. Shannon Lee said even though the project is still in its early stages, she is grateful for the board’s consideration and is willing to help in any way that she can.
“I know that this project is still in its seedling stages right now, but I can’t thank both my daughter Brianna, who was a massive help in setting all of this up, and Elena and the other members of the board for their continued support,” Lee said. “This project is so in line with Justin’s spirit, and I want to do anything I can going forward to help.”
