Warren won a $570,080 state grant for the Dealaman trail and pond, and the match comes out of the open space trust

A fifty fifty match on a $1.14 million project is the cleanest form a state grant takes, and the township half was already sitting in a dedicated fund.

The award

Croson credited Remington and Vernick Engineers for assistance with the application.

The township's half does not come from the tax levy for the year. It comes from the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund, a dedicated fund built from a separate open space tax that voters approve for that purpose. That is the whole point of holding such a fund: when a fifty fifty match appears, the local half is already there and does not compete with the operating budget.

One condition is worth understanding before treating this as money in hand. The grant portion is contingent on legislative appropriation. Green Acres awards are approved by the department and then funded through the state appropriations process. The award letter establishes the commitment. The appropriation releases the money.

What the money buys

The scope was presented in February by Jason Cline of Remington and Vernick, at a public hearing on the application. The work covers 173 and 197 Mount Horeb Road and includes:

• Trail walkway rehabilitation
• A vegetated swale
• Pond maintenance and light dredging
• Two solar powered aerator pumps
• A prefabricated pedestrian bridge
• Kiosk replacement

What it does not include is as informative. No new trails. No tree removal. Wetlands avoided. This is a maintenance and repair project on an existing facility, not an expansion, which is generally the easier category to fund and the harder category to get residents excited about.

An online survey run during the application drew 93 responses, mostly favorable.

A small discrepancy in the numbers

The township authorized the application by Resolution 2026-074 on February 19, 2026, at a total project cost of $1,147,160 with a matching township share of $573,580.

The award came in at a total of $1,140,160 with a match of $570,080.

The project shrank by $7,000 between application and award, and the township's share fell by $3,500. Nothing in the public record explains the change. It is a small enough adjustment that the likeliest explanations are routine, but I am not going to guess at which one, and the two sets of figures are both in the record, so anyone reading the February resolution and the June award side by side will see the gap.

The rest of Croson's report

The same June 18 report covered several other public works items.

New Jersey Department of Transportation funded paving was underway on phases of Mountainview Road and King George Road, with grant applications submitted for Reinman Road and Mountain Avenue.

The township will purchase its own Styrofoam collection bin using Clean Communities Grant funds, while continuing to process the material through the shared services partnership with Long Hill Township.

The staffing problem behind the volunteer program

The grant is capital money. It buys a bridge and a swale and two pumps. It does not buy the labor to keep a trail passable afterward, and the record on that point is candid.

Recreation Director Joe Passaro told the Open Space Advisory Committee on April 9, 2026 that the Department of Public Works has 17 people, with only 3 assigned to trails, and 1 or 2 of those retiring soon. He also said trailhead improvements are needed before volunteers can maintain the trails, and that no venue exists in Warren for adult softball or cricket despite demand.

The Open Space Committee itself was reconstituted as a standing committee in January 2026 under Chair Bill Gilbert. It set its 2026 focus on three properties: Dealaman, Coddington and Glenhurst. At its March 11 meeting the committee noted that the Recreation and Open Space Inventory remains in draft, and that Green Acres awards might not arrive until late in the year with funds following in the next one. That timing note reads differently now that the award has landed in June.