Nomahegan To Take Over Empty Park Drive Home

A vacant home on Park Drive will soon make way for a slightly larger Nomahegan Park thanks to $495,000 in open space funds.

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders recently authorized the purchase of a .59 acre parcel of land at 112 Park Drive, adjacent to the county's Nomahegan Park, via $495,000 of the Union County Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust Fund.

"This was an extremely rare chance to preserve more open space in a highly developed area," said Freeholder Deborah Scanlon, who also chairs the Freeholder Board's Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Committee.

Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski, who is a resident of Cranford, noted that the property was of particular value to the Open Space program because it occupies an elbow of land that intrudes into the southern end of Nomahegan Park.

"Had the site been sold to a private developer, based on recent trends the existing home would most likely have been replaced with a much larger structure," said Kowalski. "This purchase will help prevent encroachment, so that residents from Cranford and throughout Union County can continue to enjoy peaceful natural surroundings when using the park."

The Park Drive site is currently occupied by a vacant house in disrepair.  The structure will be demolished in order to reclaim the property as parkland.

Cranford's Township Committee passed a resolution on April 13 asking county officials to reduce the Open Space Fund tax.

Commissioner Dan Aschenbach was the only one to reject the resolution.

"This type of program in an urban county like Union is important and Cranford needs to use it more," he said. "We're not sure what this referendum in question is about. There are some other parts of this resolution that just don't make sense. I think this is more political in nature."

The resolution suggested reducing the tax from 1.5 percent millage to 0.75 percent.

"All this is saying is please reduce the amount of taxes being assessed," said Commissioner David Robinson. "The amount of money Cranford sends is a lot more than we got back. It would be better if this was funding for Cranford-only projects because then it would be dollar for dollar."

I merely see the resolution as asking for a reduction in taxes, we can get into a philosophical debate another day," said Commissioner Mark Dugan.

Other Trust Fund grants in Cranford include $200,000 in 2007 toward repair of the river wall in Sperry Park along the Rahway River, along with recreation grants totaling almost $400,000 over the past ten years since the fund was established by popular referendum.  All together, Cranford has received approximately $1.4 million in Trust Fund monies.

Union County voters overwhelmingly approved the Trust Fund by popular referendum in 2000, with the initial goal of preserving 100 acres in ten years.  Through careful management the Fund has far exceeded its original goal.  So far more than 300 acres have been preserved, including a unique urban reservoir in Clark and some of the last remaining urban farms in the region.

In a partnership with Berkeley Heights, the Trust Fund has enabled Union County to reclaim a former industrial site for use as a public park, recreation facility and nature preserve.

The Trust Fund has also distributed millions in matching grants to communities throughout Union County for improvements to local athletic fields and playgrounds, and to help fund children's recreation programs and historic preservation projects.