What was once a gathering spot for young families has become unusable, residents say, after the township dumped road snow that is now melting into debris-filled pools at Montclair’s Essex Park.
Tamara Tanti, 39, and her wife, Angelica, 36, used to bring their 1-year-old son, Roman, to sit with other families and listen to a local music teacher under the park’s trees. Their 4-year-old goldendoodle, Monty, would also play there. But on Saturday, the park at Essex Avenue and Chestnut Street was off-limits, with mounds of dirt-covered snow melting into brackish water and orange netting blocking off the green space.
The couple, who live behind the park, said they began complaining to the township’s Department of Community Services in February after a historic storm dropped about 20 inches of snow. During overnight hours, the department then spent two weeks carting piles to Essex Park and nearby Erie Park, the couple said…