PASCACK VALLEY—An upcoming meeting between local officials, administrators and police chiefs from three towns and Veolia North America hopes to iron out unresolved concerns over the long-discussed nature trail and its planned Earth Day grand opening.
The amenity would be a 1.5-mile-long nature trail encircling the Veolia-owned Woodcliff Lake Reservoir and passing through parts of Woodcliff Lake, Park Ridge and Hillsdale.
Hillsdale Mayor John Ruocco told us, “The Hillsdale Police chief attended a meeting with his peers at the Haworth Veolia plant in the early part of (March) to discuss operational and security matters. I understand that the towns want another meeting where the people who actually make things happen — the business administrators — would get together with the elected officials and perhaps law enforcement and attorneys, to take stock of where we are, both operationally and with respect to settling some questions that have come up pertaining to legal risk.”
While it appears unlikely that the Veolia-promised Earth Day (April 22) the trail’s grand opening will occur, local officials said they hoped a final meeting with Veolia can resolve concerns about surveillance cameras, liability, and estimated local costs — leading to a later spring or summer grand opening, said Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo.
Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake were able to receive state-funded trail improvement grants, but it was not clear if those funds were still available.
While meeting details were not firm at press time, Rendo told us on March 28 that it was hoped that local mayors, police chiefs, business administrators, and some council members would meet soon with Veolia officials to “get on the same page” and resolve security and liability concerns.
Recently, local officials had discussed aspects of a Veolia licensing agreement for the nature trail — mostly in closed session — that Veolia requires to be signed off by all three towns before final trail improvements can be made and the trail opened.
Rendo said issues related to selection of security cameras, as well as liability issues related to slips and falls on the trail, remain unresolved.
In mid-February, Hillsdale Police Chief Robert Francaviglia expressed trail security concerns; some council members questioned estimated costs for trail and security improvements needed to open up the trail.
So far, it was unclear if any towns had signed the Veolia trail licensing agreement, but no town had listed a resolution to approve the agreement on recent agendas. (See “‘Home stretch’ but trail’s Earth Day opening now uncertain,” Michael Olohan, Feb. 20, 2023.)
Asked for an update on trail progress, Ruocco replied March 21: “I don’t have an estimate of the cost yet as the steps necessary to get the trail ready are not yet finalized. The cost per town may be less than originally thought (which was roughly $30,000). I continue to believe that we are close to the finish line, but Earth Day is no longer a realistic target, at least in my mind.”
On March 21, Veolia spokesperson Debra Vial told us, “We are good to go on our end, just waiting on the municipalities to sign agreements and do their part to get the pathway open. In fact, on April 4, Veolia is placing a sculpture that encourages cleanups and recycling at the site.”