A joint parks commission may be on the horizon.
By: David Campbell
A new joint task force will explore ways to centralize the administration of Princeton’s parklands, possibly by creating a new Joint Parks Commission and a related municipal office, director of parklands.
Larry Parsons of Random Road, Princeton Township, who heads the task force, said the idea to centralize has been proposed for a long time. But the ball finally got rolling with the recent acquisitions of Coventry Farm, the Robert Wood Johnson property and Barbara Smoyer Park, and the pending deal to acquire the 40-acre Gulick Farm for active and passive recreation, Mr. Parsons said.
"The intention is to make things run more smoothly for everybody," he said.
Princeton is host to around two dozen parks administered by various state, county, municipal and private agencies, a situation that can be complex for two municipalities to manage, said Princeton Recreation Director Jack Roberts.
"The inventory of land under existing conditions is being operated by many different organizations and there is a very large amount of decentralization," Mr. Roberts said.
The Princeton Recreation Department currently manages Community Park North and Community Park South, Hilltop Park, Grover Park and Barbara Smoyer Park, and will be responsible for the Coventry Farm and newly named Greenway Meadows Park, formerly the Johnson property, when those parklands come on line.
The seven-member task force was convened in November to research existing and pending parklands, investigate centralization scenarios and make recommendations to the Princeton Township Committee and Princeton Borough Council no later than Oct. 1, Mr. Roberts said.
Possible recommendations include the creation of a Joint Parks Commission and parks director, an arrangement similar to Princeton’s Joint Recreation Board to which Mr. Roberts himself reports, he said.
Mr. Roberts, Douglas Schleifer of the Princeton Environmental Commission, Princeton Township Committeeman William Enslin and Princeton Borough Councilwoman Wendy Benchley organized the new task force, Mr. Roberts said.
Task force members are Mr. Parsons; David Breithaupt and Gail Ullman of the Environmental Commission; Andrew Love; John Rassweiler of the Joint Recreation Board; and Eric Lear and Adam Mednick of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.