Park Grant Funds Available For Burlington County Towns: Officials

BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ — Burlington County municipalities can now apply for park grant funds through the Board of Chosen Freeholders, Freeholder Deputy Director Balvir Singh, liaison to the County Department of Resource Conversation, announced.

Towns can use the grant funding to develop or improve their parks for outdoor activities. All 40 municipalities are eligible to apply for the county’s 2019 Municipal Park Development Grants. Burlington County Freeholders have not awarded Municipal Park Grants since 2017.

“The Board is very excited to bring back municipal park grants for municipalities,” Singh said. “These grants help enable our towns to decide what improvements are most needed in their towns, all while preserving open space and maintaining the quality of life we have inBurlington County.”

Funding for the program comes from Burlington County’s Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. No municipal cost share or “match” is required to receive this grant funding, which is exclusively for hard costs.

Hard costs include construction and repair of facilities. Funds may also be applied to the acquisition of recreational land or local cost share for farmland preservation. The purchase of equipment and operational and maintenance costs are not covered by the grant funding.

“This has been a very productive year thus far for resource conservation,” Singh said. “This year alone we have completed improvements to Crystal Lake Park, began improvements on the Delaware River Heritage Trail, and broke ground at Willingboro Lakes Park. The Board has seen many excellent projects come to fruition through this program and is looking forward to the improvements this year’s funding will provide.”