The borough has received a record-breaking $5.4 million in grants this year to help fund a multi-year revitalization program to fully modernize the borough.
“Cliffside Park is becoming one of the county’s most attractive communities thanks to the significant improvements to our parks, ballfields and buildings in recent years,” said Mayor Tom Calabrese.
By the end of 2023, the borough will have allocated – with the help of tax reducing grants – more than $27 million over the past seven years.
“We sought assistance from the county, state, and federal government agencies and they have responded to sharply reduce the burden on our taxpayers,” said Calabrese.
He credited Borough Administrator Joseph Rutch and consulting firm Millennium Strategies for their hard work in applying for and successfully obtaining the grants.
A multitude of ongoing projects this year will especially benefit seniors and children while also continuing to upgrade the borough’s roadways and sewers, Calabrese said.
A $1.1 million grant was obtained to fund the enhancement of Honor Park at 500 Gorge Road, which houses the Senior Citizens Center. The borough is adding new picnic tables for residents, recreational gaming tables, park benches, a gazebo, improved lighting, a bicycle rack, and extensive landscaping to improve the aesthetic quality of the park.
Ongoing renovations of popular Zalewski Park are continuing with the borough is using a pair of county and state grants totaling $277,000 to fully resurface the popular park and further improve the playground areas.
A $190,000 grant from Bergen County Community Development for the West Grantwood Playground on Oakdene Avenue is being used to replace field lights for nighttime athletic activities. The field itself was resurfaced a few years ago at a cost of $1.2 million that was offset by $774,000 in grants.
Several hundred children participating in this summer’s recreation program received free lunches thanks to a $53,000 state grant obtained.
Multiple grants pertaining to public safety were also awarded to the borough.
A $460,000 grant from BCCD will be used to upgrade the HVAC systems - heating, ventilation, and air conditioning - for the police, fire and EMS sections of the municipal building.
Additionally, a $265,000 BCCD grant is being used to help fund the purchase of a new ambulance and using another $20,000 grant to improve pedestrian safety in the community.
To aid residents who own electric vehicles, the borough will be receiving a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection to add three charging stations with a total of five ports on the first and second parking levels of the municipal parking areas at the Towne Centre on Anderson Ave.
Meanwhile, with more than $3.3 million in federal, state and county grants, the borough is continuing with its ongoing overhauls of its streets and sewers across town.
It obtained a $1 million federal grant from US Congress for improving sanitary storm sewers along Edgewater Road and Cortland Place; $566,000 from the county for sewer replacements on DeSoto Place; $400,000 from the state for road improvements on Lafayette Ave.; $400,000 for similar improvements on Lincoln Ave. $349,775 for road and sewer work along Anderson Ave.; $310,000 for sanitary sewers on Jefferson Ave.; $252,00 for road improvements on Washington Ave.; and $185,000 to complete a two-year rehabilitation of Columbia Ave. from the Palisades to the Ridgefield border.
And to combat spotted lantern flies preying upon trees on borough property, the Department of Public Works is using a $15,000 grant.
