THE BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS County of Passaic

Director Telephone (973] 427-0840
County of Passaic Fax (973] 304-0302

Department of Recreation

675 Goffile Road

Hawihorne, NJ 07506
 
 

It is my strong feeling- that, dramatic steps must be taken to incorporate new and innovative techniques if we are to create an effective Master Plan for Recreation in

Passaic County.

As such I am proposing the creation of an Urban Park Zone, which by both definition

and intent can spur a plethora of opportunities that might not be available absent its existence. -

One benefit I anticipate would be an enhanced success rate when both public and private Grant Applications are tendered. (See attached Senate Resolution No. 66 on Open Space a one example.

Secondly, if we successfully lobby for amendments to Mt. Laurel (details will be submitted-at our next meeting,) then the boundaries set in this proposed UPZ, would set the parameters for upgrades and acquisitions. In essence they would legitimize the whole process and concept, by establishing boundaries.

Bear in mind this would not preclude upcounty upgrades and acquisitions underSenate Resolution #66, just under any amendments to Mt. Laurel.

Additionally, we must be positioned properly to take full advantage of the largesse of the State in distributing Open Space dollars to both the County directly, and other authorities, agencies—and not for profits with which we may be affiliated.

I envision applications for Historic Battlefield sites, expansion and reconfiguration of existing Ball fields and the acquisition of new Greenspace, both up county and in urban areas... Other possible areas of attention can revolve around the Construction of Ice and Roller Blading Rinks, Soccer Bubbles for winter play, revamping of Hinchcliff Stadium, the construction of a Soccer Stadium, or even the construction of a second Golf course. Many of these projects, are not only self reliant but can be revenue producers. ..

Obviously, we must continue to explore all opportunities to enhance recreation countywide. Several weeks ago I acquired a-list of vacant lots in Paterson in an attempt to determine if there were any contiguous properties suitable to our needs. 1 also have data collected on constructing a Butterfly House, and with the large sums available from this trust, ambitious projects of this sort should not be discounted.
 
 

Some relevant particulars incorporated in the Threation of an Urban Park Zone would be as follows:

1. The zone would encompass an area from the center of any county municipality with a population of 50,000 or more extending to a radius 5 miles from-its perimeter

2. Camps or facilities outside the zone would-also be eligible, if their programs were geared to service residents of the urban areas incorporated in the UPZ. (This for example would include Camp Hope.)

3. It is imperative that this is recognized as a county function since both programs and acquisition can and probably will traverse municipal

borders, and the zone itself, will absolutely.

4.. We should begin compiling Wish lists from agencies-like Camp Hope and of course from Parks, and Recreation, and we should prepare our grants person after garnering all relevant data.

5. We should also draft a Companion Resolution, to request our local state legislators to amend the current Mt. Laurel Guidelines to allow donor cities to contribute an additional 25% to counties that have established an Urban Park Zone. (Resolution details will be ready for our next meeting.)

6. If we tap into the Open Space Fund successfully, it still does not diminish the need to develop additional revenue sources, and we should proceed with our effort to amend Mt. Laurel. Specifically, since our County Parks have limited acreage and serve very dense municipalities with extremely limited Greenspace, (Paterson has .1/10 of the park space it should have under Federal guidelines). Long after our initial efforts reach fruition, the need will be constant.

Please be aware that this proposal is in a fledging stage, but if you embrace the concept, I am sure working together, we can produce a document which will benefit all County residents.

Thank you.

Ostensibly, we appear to provide a great deal, but in essence, we provide very little. At this juncture whatever exists in the respective municipalities, and the State Parks in Ringwood, summarizes recreation for up county residents. County government is a player on paper only. This is clearly illustrated in the above chart. Our map indicates almost 3,000 acres of greenspace upcounty, but except for the obvious benefit of purifying the air and water there is no direct benefit to our recreational needs absent hiking, and even that presupposes a network of natural trails which may or may not exist.

Basically our county map represents an ineffective past approach that is not only disingenuous and counter productive, but self deluding. I cite the phone book entry page 9 (see attached) Recreation, under the heading "Passaic County Parks".

"County residents have a cornucopia of Parkland" with 40 lakes and ponds, arid nine reservoirs, etc. Again, disingenuous and self deluding.

Almost all the acreage is in the northern most sector of the county and is predominantly watershed suitable only for hiking and/or fishing.

Not only is this acreage far removed from the population centers, but by definition and need is precluded from use for anything but watershed. There will not be a second golf course built, nor soccer fields nor any other incursion, and rightfully so, watershed is precious. We must acquire non-watershed properties up-county, or we will be forever precluded from implementing any Parks/Recreational improvements for upcounty resident3 and taxpayers.

If you agree that our own map is clearly ambiguous, then it follows, that anyone considering a grant application based on per capita greenspace would certainly presume functional park. space that technically does not exist. This would certainly place our grant application in serious jeopardy.

The implementation of an Urban Park Zone, which will provide more accurate depictions and incorporate more precise definitions will resolve that in advance. As I alluded to in my memo of September 15th, 1998, the mere creation of the UPZ and its subsequent

demographic and data bank opens opportunities not the least of which are incorporated below

1. Properly postures the County to develop two fold plan based on upcounty needs and the needs of the urban areas.

2. Prepares the County to properly apply for grants, including open space dollars, from a position of strength, by removing convoluted and ambiguous data.

3. Will allow for companion applications, and or guidance for not -for-profits and smaller municipalities who do not have a grantsperson on staff. Our data, maps and demographics as well as our grantsperson could be the difference in their applications within (if even independent of) the zone. (See attached Rotary memo.)

4. By first creating the UPZ, and then petitioning State and Federal Legislators to follow

suit, we have a better chance that the language we have adopted, (5 mile radius -50,000) and subsequent definitions will be incorporated in their legislation. If our formula should be enacted; we would be well served , since most of our municipalities would fall under the Urban Park Zone Umbrella. This is why expeditious action is crucial. We cannot properly apply for Open Space Dollars, nor can we petition for State or Federal Legislation until our Resolution is passed, our maps are drawn and our plan is intact. -

5. Absent the zone’s creation, unless our potential project traverses a municipal border, our application for grant dollars could be weakened, particularly where acquisition is at stake.
 
 

The math isn’t hard, total acreage is 4,096.00. Watershed represents 2858.84 Golf represents 374.09 and the remaining useable greenspace is 863.07 acres.

Therefore almost a half million residents, subtracting hikers and golfers per capita share 863.07 acres of County greenspace. The need for an Urban Park Zone becomes more evident as our analysis progresses.

If upcounty was not replete with reservoirs thereby rendering watershed status upon all our upcounty Parks, we would be free to develop them for various recreational uses as we saw fit.

Therefore our position should be that we maintain our responsibility to the State without -being penalized. The creation of a county watershed zone and subsequent State and/or Federal watershed zone to compensate us for our loss is absolutely appropriate, and should be acre for acre in the form of replacement through acquisition. This will be echoed in the analysis and conclusive steps of this packet.

For now lets continue to make the argument for preparation by displaying data from just two of the nine reservoirs in our County. 
 

Newark owns 5 other reservoirs in West Milford. Canistear, Echo Lake, Clinton, arid Oak Ridge (Jefferson border) which empties into the Charlottes

Burg Reservoir for intake. All the water goes to Newark, and is not included in the 28% listed above.

The Wanaque and Monksville Reservoirs use several hundred square miles of watershed in Passaic County to provide the millions of gallons dispersed to their contracting municipalities. Only four of those municipalities however are in Passaic County, and they use only 25% of the allotment:

Because we have to preserve our watersheds a.k.a. parks in pristine condition to protect the water supply, we are obviously unable to develop them for recreation. As a result, we should petition, that the following apply:

.1 The State or Federal Government should-riot be allowed to consider watershed acreage as usable, and therefore any grant application should be weighed absent that acreage when per capita ratios are considered as a condition of approval.

2. We should create in addition to our UPZ, a county watershed zone, and lobby for their recognition and priority status.

A county watershed zone shall exist when the governing body determines that dependent

counties re4ying on a watershed within its boundaries, cause parkspace and watershed not to be altered, preventing utilization of said greenspace by the host county.
 
 

The purpose of establishment of such a zone shall include but not be limited to the following:

1. To petition state and federal entities for replacement acres, and to similarly petition the D.E.P. and water suppliers

2. To petition for recognition of both the UPZ and watershed zone as entities able to apply for grants in conjunction with yet independent of the County, thereby not prejudicing anyapplication the County should render on its own.

3. Request precedence and priority status on all applications to the-Open Space State Fund for any county with an established watershed zone.

4. To facilitate sale of said acreage to the D.E.P., water suppliers, State or Federal Government, at a price determined by certified assessors to be consistent with usable replacement acreage in other parts of the county.

Basically, because of our unique configuration it is possible for the County to establish both an Urban Park Zone, and a Watershed gone without one impeding on the other, and thereby enable the State and Federal Government to recognize each on its own merit, and yet also as a separate and distinct entity.

Both zones should focus . on. improving recreation parks and greenspace, thereby enhancing the quality of life in Passaic County. This would be accomplished in two

Diametrically opposed settings, demonstrating that our diversity is a strength, arid that the proposed improvements made possible to each would only enhance the character of the whole.

After we enact these strategies, we must act quickly to petition the State to add our conditions to their Open Space Grant criteria.

Many of the aspects addressed in both memos can be dealt with after the fact. For example, if the Mt. Laurel exemption is held in abeyance for more detailed analysis that is understandable, but the concept, and other aspects of the UPZ and watershed zone should ~be expedited. The Open Spa6e State Dollars will not be there if we procrastinate.
 
 

When you displace wetlands with, (for example) a highway, there is a formula for replacement (two for one) etc., and because there is no disputing the need for either, the regulations permit both functions to peacefully co-exist. In the instant case, there is also no dispute as to public need. We absolutely agree, watershed is precious and should be preserved, but not without the compensatory balance of the above example and not with the continued pretense that their watershed is our park space.

This presentation has demonstrated conclusively that for decades, a far reaching and ongoing subsidy has existed at the expense of our county and for the direct benefit of the customers of the North Jersey District Water’ Supply (the State), and the Newark District Water Supply. Passaic County residents have borne the brunt, and have suffered the intolerable preclusion of not using their own greenspace as a reward. Basically this state imposed subsidy has decimated our Park System, without even the courtesy of negotiations or any attempt at remuneration.

Always mindful that we prefer legislation to litigation, I ask that this proposal be moved rapidly from this Committee, to the Legal Department. The sooner this concept is in proper form for rejection or ratification by the full Board, the sooner we can begin to undo the damage done to our residents.

Thank you.
 
 

Richard Fortino

Director Telephone 973-427-0840

County of Passaic Fax 973-304-0302
Department of Recreation
675 Goffle Road

Hawthorne, NJ 07506
 
 

An added incentive to creating and Urban Park Zone, is that it provides the latitude to petition for changes instate-laws- that can provide revenue to support the fund. One example, although politically sensitive would be to create an additional exemption to the Fair Housing Act (Mt.Laurel).

Currently, municipalities in our state are permitted to discharge 50% of their Mount Laurel obligation by providing stipends for recipient cities to repair or replace deteriorated housing in their respective neighborhoods.

The remaining 50% of their allocation, for many, hovers in a limbo like state, while they pursue exemptions to fend off assaults on their Master Plan and mitigate forced zoning changes which they find not only unpalatable but untenable as well.

Whether the mistakes of poor planning which has decimated so many urban I areas through high density and the absence, of green space is being thrust on them as a solution to urban decay, or not, is an argument for social and political scientists and irrelevant for our purposes; What is pertinent is that doner cities want to be relieved further of these zoning burdens, and we could certainly make salient use of funds to acquire, upgrade and reconfigure existing County Parks and Recreational Facilities. Through our Urban Park Zone, we could use those funds far inner city acquisition. It is counter productive to rehabilitate housing in urban centers, and ignore the positive impact parks and greenspace brings to the total equation.

I rely on the formula stated in my earlier memo, where state legislators would be petitioned to create another exemption to Mount Laurel for -the express purpose of funding established Urban Park Zones by qualified counties. I will refrain from making further argument for Fair Housing Act revisions at this timee, to insure it does not dilute the more important debate on the creation of the two proposed Park Zones. I remain however at your disp6sal to discuss at length the reasons which are legion and justified.

To fund the UPZ, in addition to the possible scenarios depicted in my memo, lets also consider corporate tax credits or mechanisms similar to the sales tax stipend which propels the UEZ.

Obviously aspects of this proposal may require state or federal legislation. Therefore we must be prepared to petition for passage and to supply concise demographics to support our case.

Both the proposed resolutions, (UPZ and Watershed Zone) have as a major component, the assimilation of that data for dissemination by our grantsperson, an associated entity or an in county municipality’s grant. If there is a downside to attempting acquisition of greenspace at minimal or no cost to the taxpayers, I remain unconvinced.
 
 

Richard-Fortino

Director Telephone (973) 427-0840
county of Passaic Fax (973) 304-0302
Department of Recreation
675 Goffle Road

Hawthorne, NJ 07506
 
 
 
 

In an attempt to foster debate and ultimately negotiations and/or legislation that will stimulate dramatic improvement in the state of Passaic County’s recreational opportunities, this proposal is respectfully submitted for your review.

Concentration on self reliant and revenue producing projects, specifically a second golf course, and the various options enumerated in my memo of 9/15/98 (page 2, paragraph 2) will preclude a raid on tax dollars while accomplishing the task at hand.

The goal of reclaiming usable greenspace for upcounty residents, while creating urban parks in the more heavily populated areas is admirable in its intent, and possible if we are willing to take the various overt steps detailed in the report.

Bear in mind when reviewing the Urban Park Zone parameters, that the 5 mile radius extending from a city’s perim⁶ter stops at the county line and is not a true arc.

I urge you to expedite debate, and remain available to assist in any manner you deem appropriate to accomplish our important mutual goal.

Thank you.