WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.—While one state agency was at long last approving a 1.5-mile Nature Trail around Woodcliff Lake Reservoir, the state’s environmental agency was walking back two previously approved grants, taking away nearly $50,000 to fund the trail’s needed improvements.
In two letters transmitted to Woodcliff Lake and Park Ridge dated Feb. 25, the state Department of Environmental Protection Division of Natural Resources Recreational Trails Grant Program said two $24,000 grants previously awarded to the towns were cancelled due to a lack of progress in spending the funds.
The DEP was told by the Federal Highway Administration— which funneled the Recreational Trails Project grant funding to DEP—that all “inactive projects” were being cancelled.
In addition, although Hillsdale also applied for a $24,000 trails grant in 2016, its grant application was denied, said state DEP officials.
DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said all three municipalities may re-apply for funding this year.
Both grants that were cancelled were awarded in February 2016.
Both were cancelled in part due to the long time period that elapsed as Suez drafted its licensing agreement and then all towns and Suez waited a year for final approval on the Nature Trail from the state Watershed Property Review Board. That board only holds two or three annual meetings.
The three towns had worked for years—with Woodcliff Lake and Park Ridge pushing especially hard and sustaining interest for at least half a decade to plan for an interlocal Nature Trail around the reservoir.
Joined by Hillsdale, the three formed a united front in working with Suez Water to coordinate a licensing agreement and create a nature trail around a scenic North Jersey reservoir.
Approval and denial
The odd and unsettling exchange of letters approving the project but nixing the state grants occurred within weeks of each other—leaving mayors of Woodcliff Lake, Park Ridge and Hillsdale stunned and frustrated just as they were celebrating the state’s approval of the Nature Trail project.
While a few minor details need to be resolved following state approval April 2, the sudden lack of funds to improve the Nature Trail and install required security features may further delay a much-delayed project, though all three mayors told Pascack Press they were optimistic they will still secure state grant funds, if not now then in the future.
And all three mayors, in concert with Suez Water, were said to be working with DEP to try to salvage the state trail grant funding although that appeared uncertain. DEP spokesman Hajna said “the (trail grant) applications would be reconsidered at whatever point they decide to resubmit them.”
If ‘common sense prevails’
Park Ridge Mayor Keith Misciagna, a longtime Nature Trail advocate, said several borough professionals have contacted DEP “to explain all of this (state delays/approval process) and most feel that we can and will get this done as long as common sense prevails,” Misciagna wrote, holding out hope the grant funds can be saved.
“As you know, my motto from the start of this process has always been that we are going to put the Park back into Park Ridge. So I’m hopeful that I’ll have good news in the coming weeks,” Misciagna wrote.
Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo said Borough Adminstrator Tomas Padilla was reaching out to DEP to try to save the grant funding.
‘It was them, not us’
“It’s really upsetting that they’re trying to pull our grant… [Padilla] is trying to save this grant and let them know we’ve received all the approvals from them and if there was any delay it was them not us,” he said April 15, following a Borough Council meeting.
Rendo said he did not see the grant funds denial “as a holdup it’s more of a hiccup” and they may yet be able to get DEP to provide the funds.
Hillsdale Mayor John Ruocco said though Hillsdale did not receive funding after it applied in 2016, he plans to explore options with Misciagna and Rendo to also secure trail funds.
Should funds not be immediately available via DEP trails grants, it’s possible towns could tap other funding sources, including county or municipal Open Space trust funds.