February 3, 2006
The Record

 

Ferry grant looking shakier

By Adrienne Lu

 

 

EDGEWATER -- Even as the backhoes rumbled this week onto Grand Cove Marina, site of the town's future ferry landing, some critics questioned $2 million in public funding for the project.

Several speakers at a Bergen County freeholders meeting Wednesday night urged the board to reconsider a grant from the county's Open Space Trust Fund for the ferry and marina project. They said that when the grant was approved, the project did not include a ferry.

The plans for Grand Cove Marina, at River Road and Route 5, have changed so much, the critics argued, that at the very least, the county should formally reconsider the issue and vote again.

Betsy Kohn, chairwoman of the Sierra Club North Jersey Group, said that while the Sierra Club supports ferry service and other forms of mass transportation, the group objects to "using $2 million from the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund for a transportation terminal."

Kohn said what had begun as a park and marina for the public has been reduced to little more than a ferry terminal with parking spaces, waiting areas for buses and landscaping.

"We are very concerned about this improper use of open space trust fund money for a transportation project," Kohn said. "It sets a terrible precedent. It opens the door to future diversion of open space money for other non-open-space-preservation purposes. And it violates the public trust."

Freeholder Valerie Huttle responded that the goal of the grant was to preserve open space, and that the proposed ferry terminal did not affect that goal.

"That area in Edgewater was in threat of development for condos and restaurants," Huttle said. "Whether a ferry is there or not, that piece of land is preserved in my view."

Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney was not present at the meeting, but Brian Hague, McNerney's spokesman, said Thursday that he agreed with Huttle.

"We can tell you what's not going there," Hague said. "We're not going to have some 15-story condominium complex rising, creating more congestion, importing more people into Edgewater. We think the allocation is fine. Edgewater is preserving that open space. The public is going to get a marina. It looks like a win from our perspective."

McNerney participated in a ceremonial check presentation with Edgewater officials last month, but the money has not been turned over yet. Robert Abbatomarco, executive director of the open space fund, said the money will be released after Edgewater submits paperwork.

Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper, who also serves on the county's Open Space Trust Fund committee, agreed with the stance of the Sierra Club and a couple of Edgewater residents who also spoke at the meeting.

"Two million dollars that could have gone to another project somewhere else is tied up because Edgewater is trying to use it to build a transportation amenity," Sheehan said. "If that $2 million is allowed to be used for a transportation amenity, there are 69 other towns in Bergen County that would like to improve their transportation amenities."

Freeholder Lisa Randall, the lone Republican on the board, following the suggestion of Edgewater resident Donald Kopczynski, asked to see a copy of any agreement signed by the county and the borough. Kopczynski said he believed no agreement had ever been signed by both parties.

Former Councilwoman Lois Fein, one of the ferry's strongest supporters, acknowledged that the scope of the project had changed, but said the changes had nothing to do with the ferry landing. A planned playground, for example, was eliminated but only because the council decided the borough already had enough playgrounds, including one a couple of blocks away, she said.

The total cost of the marina and ferry project is estimated at between $14 million and $17 million. The Port Authority has promised to reimburse $8 million to Edgewater. The borough also hopes to receive about $2 million from the state's Green Acres program.

E-mail: lu@northjersey.com