WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.—A roughly $200,000 matching grant to help pay for the second phase of proposed amenities at the planned Galaxy Gardens passive park will be up for public hearing at the May 17 council meeting, said the borough’s business administrator.
Amenities at the site, at Woodcliff Avenue and Werimus Road, will include a gazebo, flagpoles, and a walking path.
Although the notice gives no funding amount, Borough Administrator Tom Padilla estimated it at approximately $200,000.
Padilla said April 28 that he anticipated the final paperwork soon from the borough’s licensed site remediation professional, Daniel Lattanzi, of First Environment, providing final approval of the 2.1-acre site’s soil cleanup.
Padilla said a likely timeline for park development includes a request for proposals by early summer, plus public discussion of suggested designs and opportunity for public input.
Besides the 2021 county park development grant application, Padilla said the borough has also applied for another $300,000-plus in matching grants, which awaits final site cleanup authorization.
Despite public criticism due to suspected contamination, and prior efforts by Valley Chabad to purchase the land for synagogue expansion, which fell through, the borough purchased the former garden center site in early 2018, with council voting 4–3 (Mayor Carlos Rendo breaking a tie) to pay $1.65 million.
Even then, some residents questioned the purchase due to the site’s previous uses, and suspected contamination, from use as a gas station and a nursery/garden center.
However, those arguments did not deter local officials from acquiring the parcel.
Lattanzi told a March 15 council meeting he hoped to sign-off on final site remediation cleanup approval by April’s end, which would allow the borough to finally collect $500,000 in prior county grant funds set aside until site remediation was complete.
Lattanzi said that the site’s soil cleanup included mitigating gasoline residues from soil particles and remediating pesticides from the former garden center.
Moreover, he said an underground storage tank required extensive excavation of contaminated soil, and testing and retesting of groundwater was needed to meet “very stringent standards.”
Borough Engineer Evan Jacobs told council members that soil remediation work totaled $48,000, including clearing, grading and remediating about 225 tons of soil contaminated with gasoline residues.
All told, the council has spent about $355,000 on clearing, grading and remediating soil at the site.
Councilwoman Josephine Higgins previously suggested the park should honor local veterans, and an appropriate memorial area featured. Initially, council hoped to complete site remediation by the end of 2019, but delays and then the pandemic further postponed soil cleanup.
In addition to costs for purchase and site remediation, another point of contention among critics is the park’s busy location.