January 23, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 Franklin Lakes Borough council has plans for McBride Field by Frank J. McMahon Franklin Lakes Mayor Frank Bivona and the borough council have agreed to develop plans to make McBride Field on Franklin Lake Road into a borough park. Bivona suggested the idea at the council’s last work session. After a discussion of the idea and its ramifications on the current uses of the field, the consensus of the council was to support the idea. The suggestion is to have a single ball field set back from the road, perhaps for soccer and lacrosse, with extensive tree planting on the site. There would also be a planting area at the corner of the field near the traffic circle at High Mountain Road that would contain low maintenance shrubs with signs identifying the site as a borough-owned park. “I would like to give it more of a park feel,” Bivona said, adding that there should be no problem with parking at the site in the future because the United Water Company is constructing a gravel type parking lot with timber guardrails for the borough as part of the ongoing project to build a larger pump house on the Wyandotte Road side of the field. Bivona pointed out that there would not be a significant cost for the project. He also explained that the planting and borough sign area near the traffic circle would eliminate the practice of posting individual event signs on the fence around the field. The negative ramifications of the idea, Bivona said, would be that some of the events now held at the field, such as the annual Oktoberfest, Triathlon, the annual Franklin Lakes Car Show & Flea Market (Motorama), and the Lions Club Carnival may have to be relocated because space at the field would become more limited due to the increased size of the United Water pump house, the size of the new parking lot on the field, and the area that would be devoted to the new plantings, all of which, he estimated, could consume up to half of the field. Bivona emphasized that all the events scheduled for this year would be permitted and the “park like” project would be scheduled for 2014 so the sponsors of those events could be notified in advance that they may have to relocate their events next year. He also suggested that, if the project is publicized, it might draw donations from residents and corporate sponsors. Councilman Charles Kahwaty noted that the project would curtail some of the traditional uses of the field, which provide “a quality of life for the borough.” He indicated he would like to see a final plan for the project before it is approved. “The park land is community property and should be enjoyed by our residents,” Bivona said. Councilwoman Nathalie Lota supported the idea, saying that people in the borough would value a park there. Councilman Thomas Lambrix also voiced his support for the project, providing a consensus of the council in favor of making the field into a park. The next steps, according to Bivona, would be to advise the current users of the field that they may have to plan smaller events at the field or relocate them to other sites next year, and to find a landscape architect to design the areas to be planted by the borough. The McBride family donated the 23acre field to the borough in 1998 as part of a settlement that involved tax appeals on several properties the family owned in the borough. In return for the donation, the outstanding taxes owed on those prop- erties were forgiven. The field was dedicated as McBride Field at the annual fair on Franklin Lakes Day in September 1999. It was dedicated to the memory of J. Nevins McBride who is generally recognized as a creative developer who had a significant influence on the borough as it developed into a residential community over 50 years ago. McBride originally purchased the 2,500 acre Urban Farms property, which is located in the southern part of the borough, in the late 1950s from the Archdiocese of Newark. A major portion of it was previously willed to the archdiocese by John MacKenzie who owned Franklin Lake and most of the property that later became Urban Farms. At first, McBride envisioned a diversity of housing with single and multiple family homes, some apartments, and commercial and industrial uses on the property. However, because of the lack of sewers and water supply, the borough required one-acre lots and that set the standard for the future of the borough.