Grant to pay for paving in Plumsted

PLUMSTED - State Commissioner of Transportation Kris Kolluri informed the Township Committee on Nov. 15 that a grant application in the amount of $140,000 to pave Lakeview Drive has been approved.

According to a press release, the township will receive the $140,000 from the state's Fiscal Year 2007 Transportation Trust Fund's Municipal Aid Grant Program. Lakeview Drive was submitted by the Township Committee because it met a number of criteria used by the DOT in awarding grants in a highly competitive statewide selection process.

Lakeview Drive is within the state-approved "Town Center" area of New Egypt and intersects with Main Street. Additionally, and quite importantly, Lakeview Drive presently provides access to two of Plumsted's three recreation parks: Oakford Lake gazebo/fishing pier park at the scenic spillway dam and Paradise Park, located a short distance upstream of the Crosswicks Creek.

The Lakeview Drive park areas are also "connectors" to the township's 32-acre multi-purpose recreation park on Brindletown Road by virtue of the $100,000 pedestrian bridge that was paid for with a similar DOT grant in the late 1990s. The pedestrian bridge was manufactured and purchased with a maintenance-free special oxidizing agent that prevents rusting, yet has a rust-like color appearance.

The paving of Lakeview Drive, tentatively scheduled for late spring or early summer of 2007, will begin at the intersection of Main Street. The paving will continue past Paradise Park to include the township's newest and fourth park.

The new park, a wooded lot along the Crosswicks Stream corridor, was acquired earlier this year by the Township Committee with the financial assistance of the state Green Acres Planning Incentive Grant program and Plumsted's Space Trust Fund.

According to the press release, local businessman Ron Hughes, of the Hughes Tree Service, has been awarded a contract to begin the necessary trimming of trees and underbrush that will provide children and families with a new lakefront picnic area, as well as additional fishing and boating access points.