Elm St. Park Could Go to Bid in November

Florham Park Council President Mark Taylor said the borough could go to bid with the proposed Elm Street Park as early as November.

Specific designs will not be available until after companies respond to the bid with their proposals and cost estimates.

"They have to put that scenario together," Taylor said. "Whether there's a big dog, small dog park is highly irrelevant at this point. We've got to get a turf field in there and get something started first," he said.

If the council does not like any of the bids that come back, they have the right to reject all bids and send the project out again.

Administrator William F. Huyler said the park could cost between $3 and $5 million, "depending on the compontents that are built."

The borough had to get permits from both the Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Protection Agency for different buffers in the area before they could send the project out for public bid.

"All those permits are in place now," Taylor said, "and we're ready to go."

Taylor, along with councilmen Charles Malone and Scott Carpenter, fielded questions from the public about the proposed new Elm Street Park from borough residents at the council meeting Thursday night.

Residents, especially those who reside on Elm Street, came before the council with specific questions about the park, including site plans, funding and whether there would be separated parks for large and small dogs.

Larry Alexander, of Elm Street, said he was willing to volunteer his time and experience as both an engineer and an environmentalist "to try to help with a lot of the site issues on the park," he said. He said he'd volunteered four times before, and was met three of those four times with no response.

The fourth time, Alexander said, he was told "I have a conflict of interest because I live across the street from the proposed park. That has nothing to do with site issues on the park," he said.

Bob Faggio, also of Elm Street, asked if there would be different dog parks for big and small dogs as part of the complex. Taylor responded he did not yet know.