Biking and Bicycling in Warwick NY and Vernon NJ

VERNON — Mayor Harry Shortway’s vision of a township-wide greenway trail system has taken another step forward with the approval of a grant application that proponents envision using to fund a roughly two-mile bike and walking path in the town center.

The application, which the Township Council approved by a 5-0 vote Monday night, comes just in time for the township to meet a year-end deadline for seeking up to $250,000 from the state Department of Transportation for the project.

The final amount of the grant is still subject to state approval, but Shortway said it represents another step toward a shared goal that has been talked about for more than 20 years.

“This will give us an opportunity to start developing the trail system that has been envisioned since the 1990s,” he said. “We have Maple Grange Park, and now we have to start connecting” the township’s other parks and recreational facilities to one another.

Michael Furrey, who chairs the township’s Environmental Commission as well as its Greenway Action Advisory Committee that was established for this purpose last year, said the trail for which the grant is intended will begin near the Police Athletic League building, located behind the municipal building, and continue past the PAL southward on a ridge parallel to Route 94.

The approximately two-mile trail will continue in that direction past Mountain Creek before eventually wrapping around and meeting up with three other township-owned parcels in that vicinity. The money from the grant will pay for the trail’s construction and for the materials involved in that process.

“I’m pretty hopeful we’re going to get it,” Furrey said. “It’s a pretty big deal.”

He said the state DOT has been actively seeking to fund alternate means of transportation in the form of biking, walking, and other off-road modes of transportation, and he remains optimistic this particular grant application will be similarly well received.

Prior to approving the application Monday, the council heard from Craig Williams, who also sits on the Environmental Commission and greenway committee, and Toni Cilli, a member of the greenway committee, both of whom urged the township to proceed with the application.

Depending on the amount of the grant, it is possible, though not yet certain, that additional money could also be used to fund the construction of an outdoor amphitheater, according to township officials — something they began exploring last year.

The grant application comes four months after the online travel company Expedia specifically took note of the township’s natural assets and named Vernon the state’s best destination for nature lovers. Shortway has been vocal about building on these assets and is continuing to eye the completion of a comprehensive greenway of interconnected paths with the eventual goal of linking the various corners of the township with each other and with local businesses that cater to outdoorsy types.