ADAM ANIK/ STAFF
BY JAIMIE JULIA WINTERS
winters@montclairlocal.news
Proponents of a nine-mile Essex-Hudson Greenway from Montclair to Jersey City are trying to get a commitment from the state on funding by the end of July before time runs out, they say.
After decades of work by New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition, Open Space Institute and 9/11 National Memorial Trail, the dream of creating the 135-acre linear park is very close to collapsing they said, as state leaders have not committed to funding the project and deadlines are to expire.
The plan is to convert land along unused railroad tracks on the old Boonton Line into a 100-foot-wide biking and hiking path that runs through eight towns: Montclair, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, Belleville, Newark, Kearny, Secaucus and Jersey City. In 2014, the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition adopted the greenway campaign, then known as the Ice & Iron Greenway. The group later partnered with the September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance and the Open Space Institute, which reached a preliminary purchase and sale agreement in 2019 with Norfolk Southern Railway Company for the property. That agreement gives OSI exclusive right to purchase the property at $65 million until January 2022.
COURTESY NJ BIKE & WALK
But after January, the owner could consider other buyers, Dene Lee, senior director Northeast Land Program at OSI, told Montclair Local.
In an open letter to Gov. Phil Murphy, Montclair Councilman Peter Yacobellis said he worried without action from the governor, “I believe Norfolk Southern will run down the clock of this current agreement, and then swiftly move to sell the line in pieces.”
Norfolk Southern hasn’t yet returned a message seeking comment.
OSI has approached the state seeking a loan of $65 million for the purchase and another $90 million for development. OSI said Essex County has applied for the $155 million loan through the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank. That entity provides local governments with low-interest loans for projects that project water resources or the public health, and make sustainable economic development possible.
Messages sent Thursday to a county spokesperson and to County Commissioner Brendan Gil’s office about the status of the application hadn’t yet been returned by Friday.
The group of proponents also proposed that the loan be paid over the next 30 years, at a rate of $7 million a year from the Realty Transfer Fund, which sets aside a portion of money collected on property sales throughout the state. For each of the last 15 years, the funding has been set aside for acquisitions under the sunsetting Highlands Act.
“If the state does not act with the I-Bank by the beginning of July, the funds will be reallocated to other projects and the RTF will be absorbed into the general fund,” the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition, OSI and the September 11 National Memorial Trail Alliance said in a joint statement late last month.
The funds have never been used to benefit Essex or Hudson Counties despite the fact that these counties are responsible for a significant portion of the collections, the groups said in the statement.
“The availability of capital funds within the state coupled with the environmental, economic, equity, and public health benefits of the Essex-Hudson Greenway make the state’s indecision to move ahead with the project inexplicable as it now puts the entire project at risk,” Debra Kagan, executive director of the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition, said in the joint statement.
Michael Zhadanovsky, spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy, said the governor supports the Essex-Hudson Greenway and the administration is willing to work with all stakeholders on exploring options to assist in funding this important project — despite challenges with the current proposed funding mechanisms.
But a source within the Murphy administration said there are concerns about the constitutionality of funding the project by issuing debt without voter approval. In regard to the loan repayment, state officials also are uncertain “of the mechanical ability to leverage the $7M as described, given other statutory and constitutional constraints.”
“Action is needed now to determine whether the Essex-Hudson Greenway is going to become reality or be allowed to die on the vine,” Kim Elliman, president and CEO of the Open Space Institute, said in the groups’ joint statement, “While there have been many months of encouraging conversations with county and state officials and displays of high-level endorsement, deadlines are quickly approaching that must be met to save the project for the people of New Jersey.”
Thomas Baxter, president of the September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance, said in the groups’ statement New Jersey is “missing a significant opportunity [to] take a leadership role to accomplish this tremendous trail.”
The trail would be part of a 1,300-mile alignment connecting the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The project has garnered support from elected officials including New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-29), and Mayors Michael Gonnelli of Secaucus, Michael Melham of Belleville, Michael Venezia of Bloomfield, Stuart Patrick of Glen Ridge, Sean Spiller of Montclair and Steven Fulop of Jersey City.
The group envisions something similar to High Line in New York City, with benches, gardens and art. They say the project would create a safe, off-road trail for biking, walking, education and play; ease traffic; create green spaces in communities that lack park; and boost local economies.
The old Boonton Line was closed in 2002 after the completion of Montclair Connection at the Bay Street train station.
In June 2019, Norfolk Southern filed a petition with the federal Surface Transportation Board, calling for the formal abandonment of rail service along the old Boonton Line from Montclair to Jersey City. It noted its intention to sell to the OSI the right-of-way with the line’s rail, track materials and bridges intact.
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