Waldwick
November 17, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 9
The Waldwick Mayor and Council have decided to tackle improvements to Borough Park if they receive county funds to do the work. The borough has applied for a matching grant of $35,000 from the Bergen County Open Space, Recreation, Farmland & Historic Preservation Trust Fund for the project. Borough Administrator Gary Kratz said that the engineer’s estimate for the park work was $70,000, plus charges for design and oversight and state permits. The borough will match the grant dollar for dollar from its own open space trust fund. Funds would be used to provide drainage, topsoil, and seeding to improve flooding conditions which make much of the picnic area at the park unusable after even moderate rains. Drainage issues came to the forefront at a council meeting last spring because both the chamber of commerce and the Italian Club have encountered problems using the park for public functions after heavy rains. The work requires expensive permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection because the park is within 150 feet of a stream. Kratz explained, however, that he and the Borough Engineer have met with NJDEP officials and have reached an agreement that the more onerous permits will not be required if the grade adjacent to the pond remains the same. “The needed permits are easily attainable, so we are very optimistic they will be fast-tracked,” the administrator said. The funds for the permits will come from moneys left over from a previous park project, Kratz said. The actual construction activity involves the installation of a drainage system in the area that outflows to the Ho-Ho-Kus brook and then scrapping the existing hard pack and rocky soil by removing six to eight inches of elevation and then replacing it with a similar amount of topsoil, and lastly seeding the area. Many of the oaks that had been a shade problem and added acidity into the
Park grant eyed; pond project nixed
soil which prevented grass growth have been removed as they were decayed. Replacement trees that were previously planted and subsequently died will be replaced. The borough hopes that the elimination of the standing water that attracts mosquitoes and geese and the introduction of fine topsoil to the site will facilitate the growth of both grass and trees, thus reclaiming the valuable lawn areas in Borough Park. The park has undergone major improvements through the Open Space Trust Fund Municipal Program. The borough added a walking trail, a pavilion area where residents have parties and gatherings, and made major upgrades to the park road and parking areas. According to borough officials, however, the improvements have had an unintended consequence. The soil in the picnic area, never the most fertile to start with since the trees sapped its nutrients, was compacted by construction equipment, which inhibited the rain water from perking into the subsurface. The improvements increased the impervious surface, leading to rainwater run off that became captured in the picnic area and exacerbated the drainage problems. What used to take days to perk now takes weeks, making certain areas of the park virtually unusable because of the water and mud conditions and further makes growing grass impossible. The borough’s initial application for 2011 open space moneys had been for a $15,000 matching grant for Whites Pond restoration work. The county denied the application, according to Kratz, because the county agency deemed the proposal to be of a maintenance nature rather than a capital project and thus ineligible for the funds. Kratz said this project will still be done beginning this spring with moneys from the borough’s open space trust fund. The borough plans algae treatment applications to the water and then the use of an amphibious harvester to collect organic material throughout the pond, which would be dumped at the water’s edge to be removed by the Waldwick DPW.
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