$173K grant to provide scoreboard, baseball field lights at $35 million Jersey City park

Mayor Steve Fulop and the city's Redevelopment Agency announced today that $10 million worth of construction will begin next week to complete what will become the city's largest municipal park.

Berry Lane Park, a 17-acre park under construction in Bergen-Lafayette, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The park will include two basketball courts, two tennis courts, a baseball field, a soccer field, a dog run, a spray park, a skatepark, an adult fitness course and a playground. In addition, it will feature some 700 new trees, sitting areas, and a rain garden.

"Berry Lane Park is one of our most exciting projects because we are literally turning an industrial wasteland into a recreational jewel for our residents," said Mayor Steve Fulop in a release announcing the construction.

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There is none. That is the problem. It sits as a half-finished (or more) project inside of a fence.

what is the status of whitlock mills?

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I completely agree. They just need to make it happen...

This will be a great thing for the area, and Fulop should go hammers and tongs to figure out a way to get Whitlock Cordage restarted. The synergy between the two would be terrific.

My question and problem with the proposed layout - there's too much active space. The sports fields will become like Enos Jones Park - and the public will be padlocked out of the space - - space they pay for with their taxes. In Enos Jones, 80% or so of the park (the baseball fields) - is only used a few hours a week. What use is the green space - if few can use it and most are padlocked out?

There's a plan here, but some things may have changed since it was posted:

http://www.thejcra.org/index.php?p=project-details&pid=32

Any plans/map to show what the proposed park will look like?

So exciting!

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This is so great!

A state agency has awarded Jersey City $5 million to help complete Berry Lane Park, a 17-acre park under construction in Bergen-Lafayette, city officials announced today.

The funds, which were awarded by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, will go towards constructing Berry Lane Park's ball fields, courts, tree planting, landscaping, paths and other amenities.

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I"ve been to several meetings about the park and it's been a huge, expensive process. There were grants to write and obtain, property to be bought and remediate, and community input to solicit. Ben DeLisle has been patient and tireless as has June Jones and others involved in the Morris Canal community group and the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood.

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A lot of the credit goes to June Jones and the Morris Canal Community Development Corporation. They're the ones who got the neighborhood involved and kept prodding the city, even before Healy. This is been a long time coming.

No one want to hear it, but this was a Healy project and he committed the JCRA and the funding to this. Without his support that project doesn't happen. Lets also thanks Viola who also worked on to get it started. The Fulop administrations deserve credit for continuing the support. Lets keep in mind, the city employees who worked on this got paid to do their job to clean the land and build the park. They weren't volunteers, like the community people who worked to get this land zoned for a park. I have been to presentation by city employees working on this park and they act like they have made great sacrafices to build the park. Please, you got paid to do a job and you did it! If anyone made great sacrifices on this, it was the neighbors who lived with the garbage and mess for all those year!!

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Off the top of my head at least $15,000,000 (yes, fifteen million dollars) went for site remediation due to chromium contamination. I think they have it being completed in stages, as they still want to expand the park all the way to the Communipaw and Garfield corner and there still are more than a few property owners that would have to be bought out (and no doubt that land remediated as well).

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I see an IF and a "one step closer" not an actual completion date.

It's a great project and it'll be fantastic for the city. I just can't believe it is taking the time that it is taking and that there wasn't adequate budgetary needs met with it before it began. If you're asking for funds now, what happened to the funds from before or were there none?

Great Project!! Ben Delisle has really did a service for Jersey City. This property could have easily remained polluted junk yards or turned into a development. Now, everyone will be able to enjoy the space. Maybe he should get a plaque or statute one day for it.

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Agreed.

Delisle gave a great presentation at the Morris Canal Community Development meeting last month on the park. If they can ever get the Whitlock Cordage project completed it would really anchor the area, along with Lafayette Park nearby as well. With a couple of new properties being developed east towards LSP the neighborhood will get a good boost overall.

Jonathan Lin/The Jersey Journal

The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency will soon file a grant proposal for $1 million from the state's Department of Environmental Protection to help develop Berry Lane Park, according to JCRA director Ben Delisle.

If the grant from the Green Acres Program of the NJDEP comes through, the 17.5-acre park south of Communipaw Avenue between Garfield Avenue and Woodward Street will be one step closer to completion.

Though construction hasn't begun on the park's turf soccer fields, tennis courts, playground, basketball court, skate park and other facilities, Delisle said last night that getting grants from the Green Acres Program and other sources could trim the project from six phases down to just four.

"We're hoping to build the majority of the park in the next phase. That's what we're shooting for now," he said at a public meeting on the 14th floor of 30 Montgomery St.

No members of the public attended the meeting, but Delisle said that the JCRA met with community members in the area regularly, and noted that the planned park has been public knowledge for years.

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Agreed 100%, also it will help revitalize the surrounding neighborhoods.

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My understanding is that Berry Lane Park will be large enough to be above and beyond a neighborhood park (WAY bigger than VVP, for example). That said, it's silly for the council members to question the spending, as it will be a benefit to all JC residents, not just those in the immediate neighborhood. I don't often go to that area, but if there was a great park with running path, bandshell, fitness stuff, etc. I would.

Besides the usual takeaway that many dog owners are irresponsible when it comes their pet's shit, is that other ward councilmen are looking to get their hands on money meant for Berry Lane Park.

"The current debate comes as the result of $1.4 million that was left over from a $39 million bond the city council approved for other uses in 2009.

Berry Lane Park is meant to reflect many of the activities that residents have to travel to Pershing Field in Jersey City Heights to get.

Councilmen Michael Yun and Richard Boggiano have questioned the use of the money found in an old bond for the exclusive use of the Berry Lane Park project, saying that other parks need upgrades and maintenance."

Given that the area is crying out for good recreational space, trying to grab the cash seems a little rude. (And yes, I know LSP is close, but it doesn't have the same type of facilities).

You can tell when spring comes to Pershing Field Park. The trees start to show buds. The snow piles melt. A city worker comes out with rakes and shovels to pick up all the dog poop that was left by pets.

This year is better than most years, according to one resident who patrols the park regularly, noting that under the new administration, the Department of Public Works hired a new supervisor to oversee the park?s cleanup.

?Dog poop is one of the biggest problems we have in our parks,? said Mori Thomas, of the Jersey City Parks Coalition (JCPC) ? a group that is pressing the Mayor Steve Fulop to honor a memorandum of understanding the group has had with the city to be intimately involved with planning and decisions made about parks.

Parks and open space appear to be on the new administration?s agenda, but not everybody agrees with the way the city is going about funding parks, saying that some parks ? in particular the construction of new Berry Lane Park on Garfield Avenue ? appear to be getting more attention than the maintenance of older parks around the city.

Berry Lane will be the largest park in Jersey City, and is expected to mirror Pershing Field in services, providing many of the same amenities to residents in the southern portion of Jersey City that are currently available to resident in Jersey City Heights.

The 17-acre park, located at Garfield and Communipaw avenues, has been on the drawing board for more than 15 years. But the park has been pushed ahead by the current administration, which is seeking to find revenue to continue the work.

About $10 million of the estimated $20 million renovation cost has gone into the park already. The park is being built at the site of former rail yards, junk yards, auto repair shops, industrial facilities, and warehouses. For years, the site served little more use than as a canvas for the graffiti renderings for street gangs.

Was contaminated

Stalled for years, the project picked up steam in 2009, when the city and the state Environmental Protection Agency came to an agreement with Pittsburgh Paint and Glass for the cleanup of contamination on the property that included chromium-tainted soil. PPG agreed to pay about $5.5 million towards the cleanup costs.

To create the necessary space for the project, 10 of 12 parcels were taken via eminent domain. A chromium plant operated on Garfield Avenue from about 1924, refining raw chromium ore into paint pigment and other items 24 hours a day. PPG bought the facility in 1954 and ran it until its closing in the fall of 1963.

In Phase One, which cost about $20 million, the city purchased the land, and contracted for the cleanup, grading, and installation of drainage system as well as the construction of a Little League baseball field.

Phase Two, which is underway, is expected to cost as much as $15 million, which the city is scrambling to find revenues sources to provide.

The park will begin at the foot of Berry Lane and continue south to the Bergen-Hudson Light Rail System; the former Morris Canal runs along the entire length of the site. The park will reuse the concrete silos at the new Spray Park to create a multifaceted water feature. Active recreation is organized along the path of the historic canal, creating a pedestrian promenade from the neighborhood through the park.

Read more: Hudson Reporter - A battle for the parks Philosophical debate over funding for Berry Lane

Quote: Thanks! I just found this... Advancing the Morris Canal Greenway City seeks input, greater community support for 8-mile bike route This weekend, cyclists, pedestrians, and joggers will once again be able to access the Jersey Avenue footbridge, and the city has completed Phase I of construction on Berry Lane Park, one of two new municipal parks currently being built. Still, despite this progress, most residents would agree Jersey City could use more open space, bike paths, parks, passive recreation space, and similar amenities. A plan to convert the old Morris Canal route into an urban greenway is in the works, but will need both money and community support to move it beyond its current draft phase. At present, the city?s greenway plan ? which has been mapped out by the RBA Group in conjunction with the Division of City Planning ? calls for an 8.5-mile, U-shaped, on- and off-road path that will eventually link the Hudson River Walkway, the Morris Canal Historic District, Mercer Park, Berry Lane Park, the planned Hackensack River Walkway, the West Side, and the East Coast Greenway, a contiguous 3,000-mile urban bike route that will eventually connect every state from Maine to Florida. ?We want to create a route that is off-road to the greatest extent possible, because one thing the city is lacking is dedicated bike/pedestrian space,? said city planner Naomi Hsu. ?The good news is a lot of [the canal route] has not been built on. But, as it is, it?s not really available for recreational space right now. Some of it is privately owned. Some of it is along the West Side and is either adjacent to or underneath Route 440. So, it?s not the most people-friendly space right now.? _____________ ?The concept of the Morris Canal Greenway is to provide safe biking and pedestrian access to destinations all through the city.? ? Annette Schutz ____________ Using funds from the New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, the RBA Group has been studying how the city can help nurture and shape its vision for a greenway out of what currently exists on the ground. RBA has made some recommendations regarding what needs to happen to make the greenway a reality and some interim steps the city and community can take to help reach the long-term greenway vision. ?This is the first time that anyone has looked at the entire route, the entire corridor, holistically,? said Hsu. New purpose of historic site Since the 1980s there has been interest in Northern New Jersey in turning the old canal route into a greenway that would stretch from Jersey City to Phillipsburg, NJ. ?As far as Jersey City is concerned, the concept of the Morris Canal Greenway is to provide safe biking and pedestrian access to destinations all through the city,? said Annette Schutz, principal planner with the RBA Group. ?It?s meant to be a resource for all the neighborhoods that it passes through. And it?s an opportunity to familiarize people with Jersey City?s history.? A 102-mile waterway that once connected the Hudson and Hackensack rivers that border Jersey City, the Morris Canal was once an important commercial route, according to New Jersey state records. The canal actually extended beyond Jersey City into 35 other New Jersey municipalities, allowing boats to deliver such items as coal, iron, and other goods throughout the northern part of the state. The canal, which opened in 1831, was originally built to bring coal into New Jersey from Pennsylvania coalmines to be used in Jersey-based iron mills. Later, coal was shipped in to be used for heating purposes. The canal is also considered to be part of the Underground Railroad since abolitionists sometimes used coal boats to transport former slaves to safe havens. (This legacy of the canal is memorialized with a statue near the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail?s Essex Street stop.) The advent of railroads rendered the canal obsolete and the waterway was officially closed in 1924. Getting there from here As a way to get the greenway project closer to reality, RBA has suggested that community groups with an interest in open space and environmental issues advocate for it as a part of their ongoing work, an idea that at least some community advocates support. ?I am curious about what funding might be available to support something like this,? Charlene Burke, president of the Jersey City Parks Coalition, said recently. ?But it?s a great idea and creating an urban greenway in Jersey City would be wonderful. Urban greenways have been created elsewhere, and they have become wonderful resources for the residents.? Dan Levin, another activist who has followed plans for the Morris Canal Greenway, said more people need to be made aware of it. ?It?s a great concept,? said Levin. ?I think right now more people need to know about it and what it is for it to move forward from its concept phase. There are a lot of us downtown who have been following this for a while and we want to see it move forward. But we need to get out there and generate more interest from residents in other parts of the city who maybe aren?t aware of what this concept is about.? Residents who are interested in seeing specific plans for the Morris Canal Greenway can visit www.jcmcgreenway.org. The RBA Group and the city are accepting feedback from the public regarding the greenway through the end of the month. Comments can be submitted to Naomi Hsu via e-mail at hsun@jcnj.org or by mail at the Division of City Planning, 30 Montgomery St., 14th Floor, Jersey City, NJ 07302. E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com. Read more: Hudson Reporter - Advancing the Morris Canal Greenway City seeks input greater community support for 8 mile bike route

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Yes, it looks great with the green grass-still a long way to go, but what a wonderful start.

I just rode me bike from Grove to home and pass by, wow this is starting to look amazing. The baseball field is mostly complete. I am so looking forward to its opening.

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There has in fact been some discussion of a skate park among community groups and the city. If you want to see a akate park there, email the Ward F Councilwoman, Diane Coleman: dcoleman [at] jcnj.org

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I checked out there designs and no there is no skate park in the works.