RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT FOR THE ESSEX HUDSON GREENWAY

WHEREAS, the Old Boonton Right-of-Way which averages 100′ in width passes through portions of 2 counties and 8 municipalities, including Montclair and will connect users to a myriad of schools, businesses, transit stations, and facilities providing a safe corridor of travel for students and commuters alike; the proposed Essex-Hudson Greenway (“Greenway”) will provide new recreational and alternative transportation opportunities for residents of the towns within the Greenway, as well as the surrounding communities throughout the counties; and

WHEREAS, the project will provide Township residents, employees and visitors with safe bicycle connections to the communities, parks, colleges, commerce and other destinations along the route; increase property values; ease local congestion on roads; provide a close-to-home, inexpensive venue for regular outdoor exercise; and

WHEREAS, the Open Space Institute Land Trust, Inc., a regional charity active in the development of parks and rail trails, has entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway Company; owners, to acquire the 8.63-mile rail right-of-way of the former New York & Greenwood Lake Railroad beginning at the point of abandonment in Montclair Township at Mile Post WD 11.6 (near Station 600+46), and lying within the municipalities of Montclair Township, Glen Ridge Borough, Bloomfield Township, Belleville Township, and the City of Newark in Essex County and the Town of Kearny, The Town of Secaucus to the point of abandonment in the City of Jersey City in Hudson County at Mile Post WD 2.9 (near Station 255 + 61) (hereinafter referred to as the “Old Boonton Right of Way”); and

WHEREAS, the design and construction of the Essex-Hudson Greenway will incorporate stormwater mitigation measures and ‘green” infrastructure designed to mitigate stormwater flooding and Combined Sewer Outfall (CSO) overflows in the communities where such Greenway will be located; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Montclair Center Business Improvement District formally supports the Essex Hudson Greenway project through this act of resolution; and be it further

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Montclair Center Business Improvement District applauds the reuse of the Old Boonton Right of Way for the purpose of conservation and recreation and to enable the establishment and construction of a multi-use trail along the right-of-way to be known as the Essex-Hudson Greenway.