By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD The Crosswicks-Doctors Creek Watershed Association made another pitch to the Township Committee last week to commit $6,200 in matching funds for a walking trail on the preserved Breza Road tract, but was told to come back after it had a commitment from Allentown for the same.
The preserved land, purchased with Green Acres funds for $4.4 million in 2008, is owned by the state, Upper Freehold Township and Allentown Borough. The 101-acre tract is adjacent to Heritage Park in Allentown and the 117-acre parcel where the regional school board built the Stone Bridge Middle School that opened in September in Upper Freehold.
Walter Helfrecht, of the CDCWA, told the Upper Freehold Township Committee on Oct. 21 that federal National Recreation Trail Grants are available to jump-start the project. Allentown and Upper Freehold each could receive up to $25,000 to begin the envisioned 3.5-mile unpaved trail that could connect the Breza tract to Heritage Park in the first phase, and to the Stone Bridge Middle School in future phases.
In order to apply for the grant, which has a Dec. 12 deadline, the two municipalities must approve resolutions that commit them to providing $6,250 in local matching funds if the full grant amount is received, Mr. Helfrecht said. Two $25,000 grants and $6,250 in local funds from each municipality would produce $62,500 to start the first part of the trail project, Mr. Helfrecht said.
”The ultimate goal is a passage to the school, but a requirement of the Green Acres money that was used to preserve Phase 1 of Breza is there be passive recreation established on the site,” Mr. Helfrecht pointed out.
The first sections of the trail would meet the passive recreation requirements, and future sections could link the trail to the middle school if the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education agrees to the plan and future grants are available. Allentown and Upper Freehold, as the preserved property’s owners, are both responsible for establishing the trails and parking areas that would be needed to meet the passive recreation requirements, he said.
”Have you approached Allentown about it?” Township Committee member LoriSue H. Mount asked Mr. Helfrecht. “How did that go?”
”They haven’t gotten back to us,” Mr. Helfrecht replied.
Township Committee member Steve Alexander did not hide his annoyance, and noted that the Breza Road preservation was Allentown’s “baby.”
”I have a little bit of bitter taste in my mouth that you have to wait for an answer from a municipality that does not hesitate to throw up the ‘one community’ phrase to us at all times until it comes to money,” Mr. Alexander said. “I don’t have a problem saying that on the record, and if the mayor wants to call me, he can call me.”
Allentown Mayor Stu Fierstein said in a phone interview Tuesday that CDCWA had not made any presentations to the governing body this year. However, his reaction to a previous presentation by the group was that a management plan for the trails needed to be in place before the project moves forward. He said he also wanted state clarification on whether the trails needed to be paved in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
”We have put off the request for trails because there has not been a management plan fostered by Green Acres,” Mayor Fierstein said. “Assuming a management plan was in place, and the state waives requirements for an ADA-compliant trail, we would go in for the application.”
Mayor Fierstein also said he hoped the school district would join grant applications for the future portions of the trail that would connect the Breza tract to the Stone Bridge Middle School. He said too many children were walking home from the middle school in Upper Freehold on roads without sidewalks.
At the Oct. 21 meeting in Upper Freehold, Township Committeeman Bob Faber asked Mr. Helfrecht what would happen if Upper Freehold applied for the federal grant and Allentown did not.
Mr. Helfrecht said one grant, and Upper Freehold’s matching funds, could still be used to start the loop trail on the Breza tract, although less could be accomplished because it would be $31,250 instead of $62,500.
”You’re going to take our money to start with?” Mr. Faber asked. “But that means Allentown’s going to benefit from our taxpayers again if you’re going to use our money to connect (the Breza tract) to Heritage Park.”
Township Committee member Robert Frascella recommended that any resolution it considers is made contingent on Allentown approving a similar resolution for its share of the project. Mr. Alexander suggested the resolution also include a second provision that requires a management plan be developed by the two towns before any trails are built.
”We also need a signed, sealed management agreement before we start laying trails,” Mr. Alexander said. “That was one of the requirements for the purchase.”
Mayor Stanley Moslowski Jr. noted that this was the second presentation about the trails project that the CDCWA had given to the Township Committee in two years, and that the group was in danger of losing grant opportunities again because the application deadline was approaching. Mayor Moslowski offered to accompany Mr. Helfrecht to the next Allentown Borough Council meeting to try to break the logjam on the issue.
”Walter, you call me up, I’ll go with you and I’ll say, hey listen, we think it’s a great idea but we want our partners to go along with it,” Mayor Moslowski said.
The issue was scheduled to be discussed at the Allentown Borough Council meeting on Tuesday night, after The Messenger-Press went to print.

