Meadowlands Mills

The New York District of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issued a public notice on July 5, 2002 announcing the publication of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Meadowlands Mills permit application to develop the Carlstadt-Moonachie wetland, submitted by Empire Ltd, the owner of the tract. Due to numerous requests solicited by Hackensack Riverkeeper and the Meadowlands Partnership, the Army Corps agreed to extend the public comment period, which is now open until October 3, 2002.

On a related note, on July 1, 2002 the State released a request for proposals (RFP) to develop the Continental Arena site. The Continental Airlines Arena site RFP is designed to accommodate any use of the site regardless of whether the Arena remains on the site. According to Mills' website, the corporation will develop a plan that will work with or without the presence of the Arena.

Unfortunately, because the USACE does not consider the Continental Airlines Arena site an alternative to the Empire Tract, it is not examined in the scope of the current FEIS. However, Mills has started a public media campaign for New Jersey residents to garner support to develop the Continental Arena site, a dry-land alternative to the Empire wetlands.

Van Buskirk Island

In June 2001, the water company buildings were listed on the NJ Register of Historic Places at the request of the Water Works Conservancy Inc. (WWC) without any public input or consent by the property's owner, Bergen County. The WWC did so with full knowledge that Bergen County was proposing a compromise plan for the site that did not include control of the buildings by the WWC.

The persons involved with the WWC have sought, without success, to have the County turn over to them (at no charge) the three acres of the island containing the buildings for restoration as a pump museum complex with restaurant and museum store. (In 1996, the WWC president, along with others, sought to develop part of the island as a housing complex.) In June 2001, the Bergen County Executive presented the written version of the compromise plan for a County passive park preserve that would incorporate substantial portions of the historic industrial elements of the site.

The site is located on an island in the Hackensack River in an area that needs riparian habitat restoration and has tremendous open space potential. However, because the site is now listed on the historic sites register, Bergen County must submit an application to the State for plan approval before proceeding with the creation of the Van Buskirk Island Passive Park Preserve.

On June 27, 2002 Lisa Goodnight from the Bergen Record reported that NJDEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell had postponed a decision on the County's plan until next year (2003).

River Vale Woods

Forty-four acres of forests in River Vale are still threatened with development! The woods are on the north and south sides of Poplar Road and act as a buffer to the adjacent Lake Tappan which serves as a drinking water reservoir. The land owner, United Properties Group, is asking the River Vale Planning Board for approval to convert the forested buffer land to more than 100 single and multi-family homes. Over two hundred people came to the February 25th Planning Board meeting and their presence was a powerful statement against sprawl.

The town asked for and received an amendment to their Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund Award to acquire only 18 acres of the woods for development. The River Vale Planning Board gave approval to the developer to develop the property at the end of Stanley Place for single-family homes. Hackensack Riverkeeper would like to see the town of River Vale condemn the rest of the woods for preservation and seek relief through NJDEP in upholding those condemnations.