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DEP Extends Green Acre's
Funding Application Deadline for Local Governments
(03/23) TRENTON - Reinforcing Governor
McGreevey's goal to create and upgrade 200 local parks over
the next three years, New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection's (DEP) Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell today
extended the Green Acre's application deadline for local
governments to April 1 from March 1, 2003.
"We've extended the Green Acres funding
application deadline to give county and municipal governments
across the state more time to take advantage of the new
open space and park development initiatives proposed by
Governor McGreevey in his State of the State Address,"
said DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell. "Under the
Governor's direction, we will be allocating greater funding
for land acquisition and park development in more populated
communities."
As part of the Green Acre's program, recreation
development funding provides for playground equipment, boardwalks,
tennis and basketball courts, ballfields, landscaping, lighting,
parking and other amenities in hundreds of community parks.
Additionally, past park development funding has provided
for waterfront developments in Camden, Bayonne, Jersey City
and several other communities across the state. Land acquisition
projects have included the purchase of natural areas, waterfront
properties, stream corridors, and land for future outdoor
recreational facilities.
Green Acre's applications will be accepted
through April 1, 2003. For more information, local government
officials can call their Green Acres project manager or
visit Green Acres on the web at www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres.
The Green Acres Program was created in
1961 to meet New Jersey's growing recreational and conservation
needs. To date, Green Acres has protected more than 513,174
acres of open space and provided funding to develop hundreds
of parks, bringing the state-wide system of preserved open
space and farmland to more than 1.2 million acres.
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