December 4, 2023
The Township of Berkeley Heights has received another grant for sidewalk improvements; this one in the amount of $1 million. The grant award, part of the FY2024 New Jersey Safe Streets to Transit program, will help pay for new sidewalks as part of the "Safer Sidewalks for Springfield Avenue project., to run from Plainfield Avenue to Passaic Avenue. This project includes repair of crosswalks and existing sidewalks which are severely cracked, uneven, and contain broken segments, as well as added lighting for safe access after dark.
The project is part of the Township’s overall efforts to develop Springfield Avenue and the streets around the train station into a community space that has safe access and walkways to public transit. It will build upon the Township’s previous Safe Streets to Transit proposals and grant awards, which added new sidewalks on Plainfield Avenue around Columbia Middle School, and which will make future transit access improvements to nearby roadways - most notably, Sherman Avenue - in 2024. It also complements our Safe Routes to School grant program projects, which in 2024 will add sidewalks to Snyder Avenue, from Locust Avenue to Hughes Elementary School, and will facilitate path improvements from Old Cannon Road to Hughes school.
November 2, 2023
The Township of Berkeley Heights received four more grants in the past month for infrastructure, historic preservation, recreation and tree planting.
The grant awards are as follows:
- New Jersey Department of Transportation Local Aid 2024 - $346,690 has been awarded for drainage work and road reconstruction on Bristol Court, Balmoral Drive and Lawrence Drive. That work will begin and be completed in 2024 and augmented with Township capital as/if needed.
- “Preserve Union County” Grant Program, Union County, NJ– $40,000 has been awarded to the Township to go toward paying for the creation of a full set of construction documents for stabilization and restoration work for the historic Littell-Lord Farmstead museum building. The first stage of stabilization work is scheduled to begin in Fall 2023.
- Union County Kids Recreation Trust Grant - $30,300 for recreational improvements
- “Greening Union County” – This $4,000 matching grant will be used to plant trees on Township property.
“Our Township is knocking it out of the park in terms of grant awards,” said Mayor Angie Devanney. “This is less money out of taxpayers’ pockets and less Township debt to pay for necessary infrastructure improvements to our local road and drainage systems, expansion and improvement of our local recreational programming and facilities, and preserving our tree canopy.
“In addition, no taxpayer money is being used to pay for the restoration of the Littell-Lord Farmstead, an important piece of Berkeley Heights history. This project is being done completely with grant funds and private donations – a preservation project that would never be possible were it not for multiple grants from the state and County. Thank you to everyone who helped on these grant applications – from our Grants Committee volunteers to Recreation staff, to our Zoning and Engineering departments. We couldn’t do this without you!”