Van Buskirk Island: Open Space Debate Closed

 

By Mike Herson

 

Thanks to Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney, the 13 acre Van Buskirk Island will become a passive park and nature preserve. DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell has said he was signing off on Mr. McNerney's creative solution for the site which should satisfy both preservationists and environmentalists.

Mr. McNerney wrote that "a park for passive recreation with access to the river is an appropriate use of the island." He has also barred any other use (i.e. commercial or residential).

The park will be administered solely by the Bergen County Department of Parks which has "extensive experience in preserving historical sites," said Mr. McNerney. The Parks Department also has an environmental track record as they manage the McFaul Environmental Center in Wykoff. Since the old Hackensack Waterworks treatment plant was shut down in 1992 the island has become an oasis of peace and quiet in the heart of the County. Under the McNerney plan it is destined to remain that way. This riparian corridor is vital habitat in the "forgotten part of the river" between the Meadowlands and the dam.

Van Buskirk Island, as it stands today - fenced off to prevent trespassing, vandalism and bodily injury. Soon the buildings will be stabilized and the Island will be maintained as a pasive public park in the middle of Bergen County.

The County acquired the island, some smaller islands and land along the river banks in 1993 for open space. The genesis of the passive park plan dates to 1996 and was advocated by former County Executive William "Pat" Schuber and his staff, as well as by Hackensack Riverkeeper, NJ Audubon and the Sierra Club, among others. It also received unanimous and non-partisan support from the Bergen County Freeholders and resolutions of support from environmental committees/commissions and governing bodies of Oradell, New Milford, River Edge and Paramus.

The treatment plant buildings are considered to be historic and will be preserved to commemorate the development of water filtration and chemical treatment. They are listed on the historic register and their preservation has been mandated by the State. Like many historic sites, the preserved buildings will be open to the public by appointment. The park will have educational interpretive signs to explain water treatment, pollution and prevention, the environment and flooding. (The buildings are located in a flood zone and have been subject to severe flooding on a regular basis.)

Since 1996, various developers, not-for-profit entities and "consortiums" have been seeking to acquire the buildings. Proposals were presented for a supermarket, restaurant, museum, condos and the like. The developers have been thwarted, the buildings will be saved and the habitat will be saved from development.

A News12 reporter recently characterized the long struggle as "money colliding with politics, colliding with nature."

Mr. McNerney's plan represents preservation in its purest form, without the bells and whistles and commercial hype of adaptive re-users. There will be no high impact use, which is the inevitable byproduct of any successful enterprise, whether commercial or "not-for-profit." Mr. McNerney's commitment to "stand firmly against any proposal calling for the development of the island for any use other than a passive park," ensures that these thirteen acres in the middle of the densely developed Hackensack River watershed will remain vital open space for future generations. Interested county residents will gain access to the river for bird watching and other peaceful pursuits while persons interested in the buildings and the water pumps will also be able to enjoy those elements of the Park.

Mike Herson is the Chair of the Oradell Environmental Committee and a former Trustee of Hackensack Riverkeeper, Inc.

There is, however, one major "loophole" in the County plan. As long as these massive buildings remain on the Island, the potential for commercial re-development persists. The possibility that some future County administration will view this "asset" as a way to make money is very real and of major concern. It is with this destructive potential looming that it is strongly urged that the County grant an irrevocable conservation easement to the property to ensure there will be no development in the future and that the legacy of this County administration will be protected. With the loophole closed, Van Buskirk Island Park will truly be a gem in the County park system.