Maple Grange Park plan completed

VERNON-After ten years, more than 3,000 hours billed by lawyers, thousands of miles of travel by town officials, and countless hours spent working behind closed doors, Maple Grange Park is months from moving from concept to reality. Councilman Neil Desmond, who oversaw the concept design of the project, has turned over the conceptual plans to the town manager to begin taking bids and enter into the beginning processes of construction. What this means for the residents of Vernon, especially those who stand to gain the most from the park and its proposed facilities, the children, is that the end is in sight. "I am expecting that there will be construction within the year," said Mayor Ira Weiner at Monday's council meeting. "We have come from paper to reality," said Desmond. "This is the next logical step." The park has been the source of considerable scrutiny under not only this council, but previous councils as well. Legal issues over the classification of part of the site as historic slowed the process of planning considerably beginning in 1998. As a result of the historic classification, 40 acres have been designated by the National Register of Historic Places. Both historic and prehistoric Native American artifacts were located on the site by local amateur archaeologist Rick Patterson. The court case gained Vernon statewide attention and brought out divisions within the town over the future of land use and development within Vernon. The conceptual plan that was presented to the council envisions a layout that will consist of either three or four fields. This is a far cry from the original plan that called for a complex of a dozen or more fields. The historic designation encompassed most of the flat, buildable land, thereby severely restricting the town's ability to create athletic fields. To circumvent this, the concept plan does not rule out surfacing the fields with synthetic surfaces such as NextTurf. These surfaces have been shown to prolong the lifespan and use of the fields as well as require less maintenance over time. Desmond has a great stake in this project. A Vernon resident for more than 20 years, it was the park issue that drew him to public service. "This is the reason I took this step to seek elected office," he said before the audience of about 25 people at the municipal building. "Growing up in Bergen County where the park was the place in town where all recreation centered around, I thought I could help bring a sense of place - something that was missing from this town." Desmond, with fellow councilmenPhil Weiler and Jeff Patterson, traveled to sites around the state to view examples of parks and recreation complexes and formulate ideas. The group examined Kean University, William Paterson University, DePaul High School and Ramapo-Indian Hills High School in Oakland. From this they were able to submit their concept plan to town engineers, and the plan has now been turned over to the Town Manager Don Teolis. According to Teolis, the final bidding will take place in early May of this year, leading to construction within the year. The timing could not come at a better moment, says Desmond. Phase II and Phase III of the town's Bike Path Project are up for renewal of funding very soon. The bike path will meander through a part of the Maple Grange site. "There is a time constraint here with the Bike Path," said Desmond. "We must have substantial completion soon or we will lose up to $250,000 in grant money." The success of this project also highlighted one of the goals of this council: to use a mixture of in-house knowledge and effort in conjunction with bringing in outside technical expertise. "This project shows that we've been able to balance cost effectiveness with professional expertise, ensuring that we have the very best possible project for the public dollar," Weiner said. Desmond echoed that sentiment by saying that "this project has taught us so much due to its thorough nature." Council members and citizens all expressed their gratitude and thanks both to the public for its patience and to Desmond, who spearheaded the project for the council and the recreation commission. "We would not be this far if Neil hadn't undertaken this project," said Weiner. "I'd like to thank Neil for his work on this project," said Doug Selzer, a citizen involved with the recreation commission. He added that he hoped the recreation board should be kept abreast of any future developments with the park.