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Great Falls State Park


SEEKING PUBLIC COMMENT - DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 8, 2009

The Historic Preservation Office and the Division of Parks and Forestry are soliciting public comment on a draft scope of work for a cultural resource survey of the Allied Textile Printing site in Paterson, NJ. The cultural resource survey will guide the future development of the site, including the newly designated Great Falls State Park.

Draft Scope of Work
Attachment A
Attachment B
Attachment C
Attachment D
Attachment E
Attachment F

Comments can be submitted via e-mail to Kate.Marcopul@dep.state.nj.us or via regular mail to:

Historic Preservation Office
501 East State Street, 5 Station Plaza
P.O. Box 404
Trenton, NJ 08625
Attn: Kate Marcopul

The New Jersey State Park System administers more than four dozen parks, forests and Photo credit: New Jersey Institute of Technologyrecreation areas, and more than 50 historic sites and districts. Together, these special places host more than 17 million visitors annually. But in the nation’s most heavily urbanized state, the only State-managed and operated urban park is Liberty State Park. To put more State parks in urban areas, the State hosted a two-stage national design competition for new parks at Trenton and Paterson in 2005-2006.

Photo by Gianfranco Archimede of Paterson. 3rd Place Winner.  2006 National Park Service National Natural Landmark Photo ContestOn November 21, 2006, Governor Jon S. Corzine announced that Field Operations, a New York based landscape architecture and urban design firm, won the Paterson design competition. The Field Operations design team and subconsultants began work on a Master Plan for the Great Falls State Park in April 2007. Working with a Steering Committee of stakeholders, Field Operations produced a draft master plan in August 2007. A public meeting took place on September 8, 2007, an overview of the master plan was posted online and public comments were accepted through October 22, 2007. The final Master Plan, with amendments, was accepted by DEP in August 2008. Read the master plan

The Great Falls of Paterson is a natural gem that is also the cornerstone of America’s legacy of economic independence. A source of local pride and national renown, the site interests a broad base of stakeholders. The Plan proposes to transform 42 acres of land nestled in Paterson’s Great Falls of the Passaic/Society for Establishing Useful Manufacturers National Historic Landmark District, into a contiguous public park that celebrates the nation’s birthplace of planned industry and the ideal of economic independence while showcasing the spectacular Great Falls.

Coupling local and landowner interests with a potential designation as a unit of the National Park Service, this Master Plan introduces a comprehensive design vision for the future park. We believe that the integration of all these interests is critical to realizing the full potential of this magnificent resource. The optimal result would be designation as a unit of the National Park Service with management by a partnership between the National Park Service and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in collaboration with local landowners and stakeholders.

Organized around the idea of an “outdoor living room,” Field Operations proposes the park as a place where a complex interweaving of Native American, industrial and labor histories with natural and cultural heritage serves both tourist and local interests. The metaphor of an “outdoor living room” is intended to highlight the public, civic characteristics of the park, encouraging everyday use by the local community while dramatically showcasing the site’s many extraordinary assets for a broader regional and national audience.

The master plan outlines this pivotal opportunity to recover the Great Falls, a portion of the Passaic River, and the various surrounding landscapes and cultural industrial heritage sites, and to reassemble these presently disconnected places and multiple interests into one spectacular new public space. Focused upon implementation, the Master Plan also details how this vision can become a reality, built in multiple logical phases, over the next several years.

It is important to recognize that the pictures in this Master Plan do not necessarily mean that the park will be built precisely as illustrated. The Master Plan just provides us with a comprehensive vision for moving forward with multiple stakeholders, landowners, the National Park Service and our future park visitors! We also have to complete a cultural resource survey of historic resources, site remediation investigations and develop an interpretive plan. Some site remediation inspection work is already underway. You can find more details on these topics in the Master Plan.

Please contact us at greatfallssp@dep.state.nj.us with your questions or comments.

Read the Master Plan:

Executive Summary
Table of Contents
Cover Page and Chapter 1: Introduction to Master Plan
Chapter 2: Site Analysis
Chapter 3: Concept Plan
Chapter 4 - 4.8: Paterson's Outdoor Living Rooms
Chapter 4.9 - 4.15
Chapter 5: Details
Chapter 6: Implementation
Chapter 7: Appendices
     Appendix A: On Going Projects Coordination
     Appendix B: Natural Resources
     Appendix C: Cultural Resources
            Images:
            Overlook Plaza, Balcony and Steam Plant
            The Quarry Room
            Middle Raceway
            Industrial Archaeology Room
            Lower Raceway
            River Room
            SUM Island(This area is outside the park boundary)
            Outdoor Exercise Room
            Forest Room
            Sky Room (Mary Ellen Kramer Park)
            River Park Room
            Great Falls Room / Chasm
            Landing
            Upper Raceway Room
     Appendix D: Structural Issues

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Trenton, NJ 08625-0402

Last Updated: January 9, 2009

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