Archives for Uncategorized

Summit Park Line Foundation is Awarded Grant from Bristol Meyers Squibb

SUMMIT, N.J., October 30, 2020 – The Summit Park Line Foundation recently received a large grant from Bristol Myers Squibb to support its Park Line project, a 1.2 mile linear pedestrian park being created on the abandoned Rahway Valley Railroad line. The donation from Bristol Myers Squibb is the Summit Park Line Foundation’s largest gift to date, and will enable Phase II of the project to begin. “Bristol Myers Squibb is proud to support the Summit Park Line project,” said Chris Baggett, Director of Community Affairs at Bristol Myers Squibb. “Trails like the Park Line provide community residents a nice
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The Park Line Further Beautified

Thanks to the indefatigable Jeff Hankinson, the north end of the Park Line has been further beautified and will be ready for a lawn next spring. Construction at both ends this year limited activity to the park, as that winds down, park access will become easy again. Access points are on the north side of Morris Ave by Lower Overlook road and the other entrance is next to the parking lot of 10 Upper Overlook road (across from Salerno Duane dealership). More to come…
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Opportunity to Sponsor A Bench on the Park Line

The Summit Park Line Foundation is offering a unique opportunity for sponsorship and naming rights of one of 4 benches on the completed phase I of The Summit Park Line trail. The benches are utilized often on the trail, allowing residents and Overlook Hospital workers the opportunity to rest or gather with family or co-workers. The four benches for sponsorship are available for a cost of $2,000 each, including recognition of the donor(s) with a beautiful engraved metal plate for perpetuity. The Summit Park Line Foundation’s mission is to assist the city of Summit in creating a pedestrian linear park
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Economic (and other) Benefits of Trails, Greenways and Open Space

Compiled by Rory Robinson, National Park Service – Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance – June,  2010 rory_robinson@nps.gov, 330-657-2951 Expenditures by Residents – Spending by local residents on greenway related activities supports recreation oriented businesses and employment as well as other businesses which are patronized by greenway and trail users. A 2004 Study of the 45- mile long Washington & Old Dominion Trail, a transportation and recreation corridor running from Arlington to Purcellville, VA, finds that an estimated 1.7 million adult users put about $7 million directly in the northern Virginia economy. The estimated 1.6 million local visits accounted for about
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How Greenway Trails Affects The Value Of Properties

“A home with a trail running very close behind it with private trail access across a well-screened yard might be much more desirable as a result.” An article in AmericanTrails.org: There is a substantial body of literature confirming that natural resource-based parks and open space substantially enhance the value of proximate properties. These findings can appropriately be extrapolated to greenway trails in contexts where they are accompanied by extended tranquil views which account for the increases in proximate property values associated with parks and open space. However, in other cases where the greenway trail consists of a fairly narrow urban
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‘We Have a Lot of People Guiding Us’: Summit Council Formally Approves Broad Street West Redevelopment Plan

SUMMIT, NJ – Summit’s Broad Street Redevelopment Plan is now official, as the Council Members approved it in a unanimous roll call vote at their May 7 meeting, after hearing from a half-dozen citizens. Marjorie Fox, Ward 2 Council Member, introduced the ordinance to adopt the redevelopment plan, which had already received the approval of the Planning Board. Former Summit Free Public Library board member Vivien Hardy, Oak Knoll Road, expressed her enjoyment of seeing democracy in action, but worried about the plan’s possible effect on the Library. She noted a deed restriction on the property limits it to library use.
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Dr. Robert Rubino presented with Fay Matheson Award

Karen Zimmerman, Awards Committee Chair for the New Jersey Recreation & Parks Association (NJRPA) and Bill Foelsch, NJRPA President, salute former City of Summit Common Council Member Dr. Robert Rubino, who was named the recipient of the organization’s Fay Matheson Award for outstanding work by a volunteer to promote parks in New Jersey. Rubino is a founding member of the Foundation to establish the Summit Park Line, which would be the first new park in Summit in more than 80 years. The project would establish a linear trail for pedestrians and bicyclists along the previously abandoned Raritan Valley Rail Line stretching from the
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Cyclists and Pedestrians Complete Our Transportation System

Bicycling should be an integral part of the mobility options going forward. Summit’s Park Line is part of that evolution! Picture commuters bicycling from the apartments that surround Briant Park up the Park Line and parking their bicycles at the new Bike Corral which is being planned….. Consider the following article which discusses this future vision: Read the article in CivicStory
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