Members of the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders and Somerset County Park Commission got an update on the soon-to-be-completed Mountain View Park during an Oct. 20 site visit.
Freeholder Director Patricia Walsh announced that the new county regional park on the 369-acre site, part of the former GSA Belle Mead Depot, will be open to the public in the spring of 2017.
“We’re very excited to see the progress here,” Freeholder Director Walsh said. “The county now has over 15,000 acres of preserved parkland and open space. Mountain View Park will be a great addition to our recreational offerings.”
The property is contiguous to the county’s 5,500-acre Sourland Mountain Preserve and is in close proximity to Hillsborough Township’s Ann Van Middlesworth Park. The property is flat and relatively open, providing a sweeping vista of the Sourland Mountain.
Hillsborough Township agreed to jointly acquire the property with Somerset County in 2008. The Somerset County Improvement Authority ultimately acquired the property in 2009 for just under $15.8 million.
Following the purchase, the county and township established a committee of municipal and county officials to oversee the remediation, development and maintenance of the property. The funds from the purchase were placed in escrow accounts and have been used toward a massive clean-up of the site.
The GSA Joint Administrative Committee oversaw the preparation of a master plan that identified a long-range plan and strategies to develop the proposed site into a regional park to serve the park and recreational needs of the residents in the southern portion of Somerset County.
The final plan included the development of a complex of lighted baseball/softball fields. Other amenities include batting cages, a playground, pavilion, concession/restroom facility, park maintenance facility and paved perimeter multi-use trail with associated parking.
The project contract award of $16.7 million went to Tomco Construction of Lake Hopatcong. Groundbreaking was held just under two years ago, on Oct. 25, 2014.
