October 14, 2009 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Midland Park State agency forces removal of park fence Caught once again in the grasp of the state Department of Environmental Protection, Midland Park has removed a 12-foot section of chain-link fencing from its Wortendyke Park playground. The borough received a notice of violation late last month and decided to take down the fence rather than get into another prolonged dispute with the state agency. The borough was cited for failure to “remove the existing unauthorized chain link fence from the freshwater wetlands and the adjacent transition area” west of the footbridge and for not recording a deed restriction to prevent any future building on the designated area, according to Borough Administrator Michelle Dugan. Dugan said that the borough’s application to develop the park, which included the fence, was approved in 2005 with the caveat that part of the fencing then in place be taken down and that the footings be removed from the section of fencing allowed to remain. This was done, she said. As for the deed restriction, Dugan said that Midland Park Borough Attorney Robert Regan has records to show that the deed restriction was indeed filed and that the DEP had been notified of the transaction. “We complied with all their requests, and we had their approval,” Dugan said. “Now a different DEP division has a different opinion, so we had to remove it.” Dugan said that the borough would rather have preserved the fencing to protect the brook from debris and from encroachment by passersby. It took the borough more than two years to get the wetlands permits necessary to build the playground adjacent to the park-and-ride lot off Central Avenue and a pavilion and other improvements off Englishman Drive. Discussions between the borough engineer and the DEP case manager to delineate the wetlands area alone took months, and as a result, the playground was scaled down to provide a wider setback from the brook. The playground was erected in 2007 and the pavilion was completed last year. The work was done with Community Development Open Space funds and a grant from the NJ Department of Transportation. ����������� Hair Care �������� �������� ����������������� ����������������� �������������� ��������� �������� ����������� ��������������� ���������� � ������� ������� ������������� ����� � ������������� ����� ��� ��������� ����������������������������������� �������������� ��������������������� ���������������������� ����������