after the city council voted to recommend adoption, the "Recreation Master Plan" is now available on the city website (front page). it comes 1 3/4 years late and without the public meeting on the final document as described by the consultants.

Sadly, the plan backpedals on the Embankment Park and absurdly proposes 50/60 parking spaces for the park at Veteran's Point (Freedom Point) by the Colgate Clock.

is the city serious about the plan or it is just going through the motions....

See the plan here - Read the entire Recreation and Open Space Master Plan (warning it is a large file)

Call me daft, but if this project is getting money from the state, what about the upcoming budget cuts to NJ's Dept. of Parks and Recreation:

Nine NJ State Parks scheduled to close, due to budget cuts

I'm all for creating for open green space, but what about our existing state parks?

the plan is being touted in the news, yet the said Recreation Master Plan (no longer Parks and Recreation) which is over 2 1/2 years late, remains unavailable to the public as of yesterday afternoon.

there were high hopes for this plan, but the draft presented to the public in July 2006, ignored much of the public input that the Mayor mentions. Rather than rehash the problems in the draft, the public needs to see the final plan BEFORE it is adopted

'Dozens upon dozens' of parks planned

Wednesday, April 09, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Color this plan green.

Jersey City officials unveiled a "Recreation Master Plan" Monday night that calls for investing $82.2 million over the next 10 years and expanding the city's open space by 100 acres.

The biggest additions in the plan are Reservoir No. 3, a 13-acre area contiguous to Pershing Field used mainly for passive recreation and the proposed 14.7-acre Berry Lane Park in Ward F to feature two baseball fields, a soccer field, basketball courts and parking for 100 cars.

This plan calls for "dozens upon dozens of small parks and pocket parks," Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy said at the City Council caucus meeting. "Every ward . has had some input. I don't think there was a neighborhood association that didn't have chance to participate."

Overall the plan, developed by T&M Associates of Middletown for $250,000, calls for nine new parks, new pedestrian walkways along the Hudson and Hackensack rivers - even a marina with 250 boat slips and a fishing pier.

T&M Group Manager Jeffrey Bottger called the plan "achievable" and said at least one new park would be built in each ward every year for the next 10 years.

The funding sources he said would include the state Green Acres Program, Hudson County Open Space, and the Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust Fund.

The plan also included 20 acres of open space the city expects to utilize at the Honeywell site on the Newark Bay. The city expects to create between 4,000 and 8,000 residential units on this 100-acre site, which must be remediated for chromium.

The plan also inserts 5.6 acres from the Sixth Street Embankment, an unused railroad turnaround Downtown whose ownership is in dispute.

The site is currently controlled by limited liability companies owned by Victoria Hyman, the wife of Manhattan businessman Steve Hyman. As a result of a decision by a federal board last year, city officials expect to soon be in a position to buy the property from Conrail, the original owner.

Quote:

wha?

Jersey City unveils big, bold plans for parks

Tuesday, April 08, 2008
BY RUSSELL BEN-ALI
Star-Ledger Staff

A stretch of abandoned railroad tracks may have garnered little attention around the state, but in Jersey City, where land is at a premium, it has set off a clash.

Angry words followed the sale and development plans for the Sixth Street Embankment, an elevated stone structure and former Conrail track in the heart of downtown Jersey City. The mayor favored a light-rail expansion on the land, while residents held out for a park.

A new plan focusing on parks does little to resolve the issue, leaving the argument for another day.

Jersey City officials yesterday unveiled an ambitious master plan for parks that recommends the addition of 100 acres of open space, in part through nine new parks, to one of the nation's most congested urban areas.

Over the next 10 years the Jersey City Recreation Master Plan calls for the city to add new pedestrian walkways along the Hudson and Hackensack rivers, build a marina with 250 boat slips and a fishing pier. It calls on the city to build bridges, gazebos, an amphitheater and promote passive recreational use of Reservoir No. 3, near Pershing Field.

The city would first take on a more practical task: renovating existing parks and recreation facilities in each of the six wards, including some so small they are referred to as "pocket parks."

"Our main focus is to rehabilitate and to really restore all of these pocket parks that have been neglected throughout the city so they get better use for our families and our youngsters," said Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy.

According to the master plan, the city will resurface or add basketball, tennis and volleyball courts to many existing parks. It will also repair pedestrian paths and gazebos and power-wash children's playground equipment.

"What we want to do is each ward annually is going to get at least one park improved, one of the pocket parks, or a park added to their ward over the course of the next 10 years," Healy added. "We want to spread it out citywide."

The master plan is part of a $250,000 study by T&M Associates, a design consulting firm from Middletown.

The cost is estimated at $82 million and would be funded in part by the state Green Acres Program, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and the Hudson County Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust Fund.

Some plans are contingent on cleanup along Route 440, land polluted with chromium and other contaminants. Others rely on partnerships with private owners and other agencies.

The draft plan was slated for presentation last night to the city council, which will vote on it tomorrow. Construction and renovation could start as early as this year, the mayor said.

Highlights of the draft plan include recommendations for the following new parks and open public space:

* Berry Lane Park: a 14.7 acre plot along Berry Lane in Ward F. The city hopes to build two baseball fields, a soccer field, two basketball courts, a gazebo, a natural turf amphitheater and parking for 100 cars.

* Hackensack River Greenway: Eight acres along Route 440 in Ward B at the site of the former Colony Diner. The greenway would adjoin the existing and undeveloped Hackensack River Greenway Park.

* Sixth Street Embankment: Once an eastern freight terminus for the Pennsylvania Railroad, its sale to a Manhattan developer is in litigation. The master plan suggests the developer set aside property for passive open space, including pedestrian paths, gardens and seating areas, but the plan doesn't give up on the mayor's preferred light-rail option. It says extending the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail could help relieve traffic congestion.

A member of the Embankment Preservation Coalition, a community group advocating it be made open space, declined to comment because she had not seen the draft plan.

? 2008 The Star Ledger