To develop master plan for passive-recreation parks.
By: David Campbell
Princeton Township arborist Greg O’Neil has been promoted to open space manager and given a mandate to draft a master plan for improvement and maintenance of the township’s passive-recreation parks and the pathways that link them.
"I think the choice of Greg is an outstanding one," Deputy Mayor William Enslin told the Princeton Environmental Commission on Wednesday night. "Open space in Princeton has been a stepchild. We want to get this program off the ground."
A hiring freeze due to budgetary constraints prevented the township and Princeton Borough from creating a $100,000-a-year joint parks manager office to oversee the roughly 1,138 acres that comprise the two municipalities’ 36 parks, which the Princeton Parks Task Force recommended last November.
Township Engineer Robert Kiser said Mr. O’Neil’s new appointment, which is effective Monday, is especially critical following major open-space acquisitions such as Greenway Meadows and Gulick Farm.
"Until now, we’ve never had anybody looking at these open-space areas," Mr. Kiser said. "It’s really very important because the township has collected many parcels over the years."
Mr. O’Neil said he will continue with his duties as arborist as he supervises the maintenance and upkeep of the passive parklands.
Meeting regularly with the environmental commission, he will develop a master plan that addresses "basically everything," he said, from land inventories and trails to signs and picnic and light-recreation areas.
"I commend the township and am really pleased it has established this position," said borough Councilwoman Wendy Benchley, who is council liaison to the Environmental Commission.
Ms. Benchley said budgetary constraints prevented the borough from backing a new employee this year, which would have been funded jointly through the Recreation Department, but said she hopes the borough will be able to coordinate and cooperate with Mr. O’Neil in the future.

