Riverwalk Contract on Tonight's Agenda

Finally, the wait on the may  soon be over.

For six years, the Downtown Millburn Development Alliance has been working with the state and federal Department of Transportation in an effort to secure the $600,000 grant it was awarded for thesidewalk improvement project.

Now, after getting the proper state approval and advertising for bids and going though the waiting process, the award of the $464,000 contract to V & K Construction is on tonight’s Township Committee agenda.

The township must approve it before it can go to the federal government because the township will have to front the money until the grant comes through to pay it back.

The waiting period has been so long that the original grant amount was reduced to $540,000 after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and some of the money was needed for that emergency.

Downtown Millburn President John Buchholz says that in order to get it done this fall, the schedule is tight and he hopes that the fact that they came in under budget with room left for contingencies with the low bidder and they have gone through all of the proper steps, that it will get reviewed quickly by the federal government.

“We can't send paperwork to the government without the town’s consent and we had to wait until August to get on the agenda,” said Buchholz. “As soon as we get approval, we will send, and I’ll start calling the federal government every day to try to move it along.”

The plan does not actually include a walk along the banks of the river because that proved to be too expensive and require too many environmental permits.

The project  will widen the sidewalks to 8-feet across between Essex Street and the Paper Mill Playhouse, and would include benches, stonework and lighting. The stones would have room for stars that can have names of Paper Mill stars engraved in them, he said.

“It will be Millburn’s own walk of fame,” Buchholz said, adding that it can also be used as a fundraiser at some point.

The project will also improve pedestrian traffic flow. And the extra lighting will create a safer path for pedestrians, he said.

“It is meant to make people who come to Millburn for the first time as well as people who live here have a safer and more pleasant walk between downtown and the Paper Mill,” he said.

The schedule is tight because there are only a few weeks until school starts and Downtown Millburn would like to re-do the sidewalks by the Middle School before school starts. Then the Paper Mill’s premier of “Newsies” opens on Sept. 15, so if they can’t do the sidewalks by the Paper Mill before then, they will need to wait until mid October, after “Newsies” closes.

“Then we’re into Hurricane Season,” and the weather can be iffy, he said.

“If the government drags its feet for a few weeks, we will be doing the whole thing in October,” he said.

The town is fronting the money for the project and will be reimbursed by the Department of Transportation’s grant.

Buchholz said that while he has not worried that the grant would be rescinded during the wait, he has been concerned that another disaster could strike and result in another grant reduction.

“We’re looking forward to the anticipated approval of the bid tonight and getting this project going,” he said.

The township committee meets tonight at 8 p.m. at .