Tomaro, Pizzi hold meeting on park
Land off New Brooklyn Road being considered for twp. park
BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer

EDISON - Council President Charles Tomaro and Councilman Salvatore Pizzi met with residents from the area surrounding New Brooklyn Road on Thursday to float options for creating a township park.

The land, which is currently being protected as open space, is a 4-acre swath, mostly consisting of wetlands, that lies in between New Brooklyn Road and Fenakel Street. It is currently not being utilized in any formal capacity, but Tomaro and Pizzi held an informal meeting in council chambers to display different possible options for the protected area.

The most detailed plan offered was to create a playground for young children consisting of playground equipment such as slides and swings. It was a plan that brought some criticism from one resident who felt that there weren't enough children in the area to benefit from a playground, and that the park would simply turn into a place for teens to loiter.

"I just feel that if something goes in there, it is going to become a hangout, and I don't want that," said Debbie Casabana. "I am very happy with the way it is now, as open space. It will not be developed into a home and it will stay that way."

Casabana said that when she moved into her house 25 years ago, the developer pointed to this land and told her that was where her children would have a playground. For Casabana, a playground now, is useless.

The playground being proposed would be built on a part of the land that is not wetlands, a point that resident and District 76 Democratic Committeeman Anthony Russomanno said was contentious.

Russomanno suggested that the wetland be filled in and the playground equipment be put in there, as opposed to the proposed spot, which is close to residences. Tomaro promised to look into putting it there.

Russomanno, however, is in favor of the land being used for some type of park. He said that everytime there is an election, the idea of the parks comes back up, and once the election is over nothing is ever followed through. This time, Russomanno said he hopes to keep their feet to the fire.

The meeting's turnout was relatively low, yielding 10 or so residents, but it came with a plethora of opinions ranging from leaving the land alone to creating a nature trail park for residents.

Barbara Duckworth wanted to know why anything was being done at all.

"Why are we putting up more stuff," Duckworth said, "when people have stuff in their backyards. My taxes have gone up 300 percent and for what? Can't I just not have something?"

The cost of converting this land into a park, according to Tomaro, would come from funds reallocation.

Tomaro said that the council approved the reallocation of up to 30 percent of the tree funds to be used to update the parks system. That money, which was collected from impact fees from developers, would not all go to tree planting but to the creation of new parks and rehabilitation of old ones.

"The council supported it, and the mayor supported having the funds diverted for this," Tomaro said."

Pizzi said there were benefits to having the area classified as a park, though he shared no propensity for any one particular type.

If the land is designated as a township park, as opposed to township-owned open space, it would fall under the jurisdiction of the parks department. The parks department keeps up all township parks and provides security at these locations, something the land on New Brooklyn Road does not have right now.

Still, many of the residents were not impressed with the idea of turning the quiet piece of land into a park. Some felt that proximity to their houses would cause undue noise and would be a distraction.

Tomaro said that is often the first reaction to proposed parks but it subsides once the benefits of a park are realized by the area residents.

"Everytime we put a new park in, we go through this," Tomaro said," and sure enough they never come into this council's chambers to complain about it."

Either way, this was not the final chance for residents to voice their opinion. Tomaro said he would take the suggestions and wishes made to him seriously and look into alternatives that might be good for all residents in the area.

"We're listening and I'm going to go back to the drawing board," Tomaro said. "And we're going to have another meeting if we do anything."