Westwood Officials Debate When to Have Westvale Grand Opening

Members of the Westwood governing body didn't agree on a date for the grand opening of during the council meeting Tuesday but are expected to choose a date at the next meeting.

Officials have differences of opinion about when the grand opening and dedication should occur. The facility is currently open for use of the dog park and pathways. Some of the fields are not yet ready for play but should be in August. The playground at the facility, however, won't be ready until mid October at the earliest.

Council President Robert Miller wants to wait for the playground to be complete before having any type of formal opening.

"The playground is the last piece. I believe it's very important," Miller said. "Westvale is more than the fields."

While Mayor John Birkner Jr. agreed that Westvale Park is much more than the athletic fields, he said the dedication "should be done sooner rather than later," especially since there isn't a solid completion date for the playground.

"We could potentially not be done with the playground until December," Birkner said. "I think the park is open, it's being utilized. It's going to be heavily utilized in about two weeks. I think we should dedicate it officially and open it."

Miller said since the playground is close to completion, the governing body should wait. Councilwoman Ingrid Quinn agreed, saying she wanted the grand opening to occur after the playground is done.

"Then everything's dedicated as a whole. And it's not associated with one sport versus another sport or the dog park," Quinn said. "It's the whole unit dedicated and opened."

Borough Administrator Robert Hoffmann told members of the governing body that the earliest the playground could be complete is Oct. 17. He said if the county approves grant funding for the project at the Aug. 10 meeting, the borough could go out to bid Aug. 30 for the project. Hoffmann said with that scenario, construction of the playground could begin the week of Oct. 3 for completion Oct. 17.

Birkner had . Councilwoman Cynthia Waneck said Tuesday she disagreed with that date because it is so close to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and would likely interfere with other events.

At the end of the council meeting, officials had not come to a consensus for the date, but agreed that the dedication should be something small, similar to the groundbreaking done at the beginning of the project. Birkner said it could be done on a Saturday or a Tuesday before a council meeting.

Councilman Peter Grefrath suggested that Birkner and Miller present three dates at the next council meeting that the council could vote on.

The next Westwood council meeting is scheduled for Aug. 2.