Hudson Reporter Archive

Town gets a butterfly meadow (and flood control)

Secaucus is getting a new park, but humans will have to share it. Half the park will be a dedicated Monarch Butterfly Meadow. The other half is a rain garden.
“It’s a passive park, without things like swing sets,” explained Mayor Michael Gonnelli. “There will be walking paths, benches to sit and read, nice lighting. It will transform that area into a much prettier place and tremendously raise the value of properties nearby.”
The park will be situated along Radio Avenue, on the stretch of property surrounding an old radio transmission tower. The tower will remain where it is, with the park built around it.
This low-lying section of town used to be farmland many years ago, and is still swampy. It was inundated when Superstorm Sandy hit, sending water from the Hackensack River surging across Radio Avenue, Huber Street, and Valley Court.
The property is currently owned by radio station WWRL, and at first the owners wanted to sell it to developers to build new housing units.
“It’s zoned for 12 duplex units, so that would have given us approximately 24 residential homes in an area that’s never been developed,” said Gonnelli. “It’s very hard for a municipality to stop something that’s zoned.”

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“It’s really a flood control project disguised as a park.” –Mayor Michael Gonnelli
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That didn’t mean the town had to take it lying down. In order to erect housing, the owners would have required a use variance based on the master plan drawn up by the Meadowlands Commission years ago.
Gonnelli proposed a PILOT deal to the owners – payment in lieu of taxes. “My suggestion was simple: We take them off the tax rolls as long as they agree to lease to us with option to buy.”
The lease itself has no dollar amount. Instead, for the duration of the agreement the owners will be exempt from paying their property tax bill, which Gonnelli estimated at $45,000 a year.
The new park is designed in part to alleviate problems with flooding in the future.
“It’s really a flood control project disguised as a park,” said Gonnelli. “It’s going to be raised at least two to three feet above flood plain elevation so it won’t allow flood waters to move on to Radio Avenue.”

Monarch Meadow and rain garden

The concept of the Monarch Butterfly meadow and rain garden was suggested by the state’s Meadowlands Commission.
“They’re doing the park design with their staff,” said Gonnelli. “We didn’t have to pay anything. It was a perfect fit for that area, which has never been developed. We’re hoping to go back from the street around 100 feet and wrap around the building.”
The property extends more than 1,200 feet along Radio Avenue. The rain garden will occupy the southern half of the park, across from Fairview Avenue. It will be an ecologically balanced landscape using native plants to address specific environmental issues.
When water runs off roads and sidewalks it carries pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides, oil, grease, and sediments into the nearest storm drain. This runoff is then discharged into waterways, contributing to pollution and erosion.
The rain garden will allow water to soak into the soil, where sediments are captured and pollutants are treated by plant and biological processes.
The northern half of the park, across from Elizabeth Court, will contain Monarch Meadow. Monarch Butterflies have undergone a major population decline in recent years due to pests, parasites, and loss of habitat. Monarch Meadow will be stocked with plants such as milkweed which provide food for butterfly larvae and caterpillars.
The goal is for the park to be registered and certified with the North American Butterfly Association or Monarch Watch as an official Monarch Butterfly habitat, and to have it listed on an international registry with other sites around the world.
The park will not be manicured like other open spaces in town. It will contain nesting boxes and osprey platforms and serve as a wildlife preserve and a diverse habitat for birds, similar to the nearby Mill Creek Marsh Trail at Mill Creek Mall. There will be scenic overlooks with seating, as well as view scopes.

Parkland instead of more buildings

It could have turned out very differently.
“They could have gone through with the process [of seeking a variance] but we made it clear that we objected and it would probably have been a long drawn out legal battle,” said Gonnelli. Fortunately, the owners were amenable to alternatives. “They were very willing to listen to suggestions.”
And Secaucus is getting taxable properties from elsewhere.
“We had a really big victory with reassessing the data centers [in town], and then we had a lot of new stuff come on,” said Gonnelli, so the income loss from the property will be more than balanced out by new corporate taxes from elsewhere.
The town is seeking Open Space funding from the State of New Jersey to purchase the property from the radio station. In the meantime, construction of the park will proceed.
“As long as doesn’t start to snow, we’ll fill in the site,” said Gonnelli. “By springtime we should have over 1,000 feet of linear park.”

Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.

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