PASCACK VALLEY—Both local Open Space public questions were overwhelmingly approved by voters Nov. 2 in Woodcliff Lake and Park Ridge.
In Woodcliff Lake, nearly 70% of voters voted in favor, with 1,189 voters saying yes and 525 voters opposed.
In Park Ridge, local voters favored the Open Space fund 1,887 to 360, with 84% in favor.
Woodcliff Lake’s Open Space fund expired in 2020, and the borough was asking voters to renew it for another seven years. Park Ridge asked voters to renew its Open Space fund for another five years.
The ballot question asked voters to pay a tax levy of 1 cent per $100 of assessed property value annually. On an average $765,000 home, the annual open space tax amounts to about $76, said Woodcliff Lake Borough Administrator Tomas Padilla.
He said the funds often serve as match funds for state and county grants requiring a 50/50 match.
The question said, “These funds shall be designed for the purchase of open space so as to preserve such land as open space, and to keep said land in its natural state. If no open space is available for purchase, then the monies in said fund shall be used for such other passive recreation, conservation, farmland preservation or historic preservation purposes as may be permitted by law, to be determined following a public hearing.”
Padilla said about $200,000 is generated yearly from the tax, which goes for projects such as preservation work on the Lydecker house and efforts to remediate and improve the former Galaxy Gardens site into a passive park.
One recent example where local Open Space funds were needed was for the borough’s application for a $136,349 county Open Space grant for Galaxy Gardens’ park amenities such as a walking path, benches, gazebo and lighting.
Park Ridge Borough Administrator Julie Falkenstern told Pascack Press that the local funds are raised by a minuscule tax, .007 of a cent on every $100 of assessed real property value. With voters’ support, the fund will operate through 2026.
Falkenstern said an average home pays $30 to $35 per year to the Open Space fund, monies that can be used both for local recreation, historic and open space acquisition by the borough.
Falkenstern said approximately $120,000 is raised in Open Space funds yearly. She said the borough has $190,177.01 in its Open Space fund.
Falkenstern said the borough has used local Open Space funds for artificial turfing, new basketball courts and new playgrounds.
