By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD — City Council paved the way for another extension of the bike path that Councilman Eric Ford said will be a great addition to the city.
Council accepted a 15-foot-wide easement from GLB Management owner Gerry Bird to extend the popular path from Wabash Avenue through SJI Park (south of Seaview Middle School) to Route 9, parallel with Kirklin Avenue. The path crosses part of the property housing The Exchange and medical offices.
“For those kids who like to ride their bike to Wawa, you can ride your bike on the bike path, come up and now jump on the sidewalk network and be safe,” Ford said, noting when it’s complete, riders will be able to avoid traffic-heavy Ocean Heights Avenue.
Ford, who oversees planning and development, said the Planning Board suggested extending the bike path in several different directions as part of the city’s master plan re-examination “to connect neighborhoods — neighborhoods across Route 9 as well as neighborhoods across Shore Road.”
“We negotiated an easement with Gerry Bird who owns The Exchange and operates that property, so we can bring the bike path straight through and connect it to the existing sidewalk network that is on Route 9,” Ford said. “It will be a great asset for the town as well as the building.”
He said city engineer Vince Polistina and City Clerk Leigh Ann Napoli “did a great job in securing funding for the bike path extension.”
According to Jen Heller, of Polistina and Associates, the project is funded by the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives Program, a $127,000 grant that was awarded to the city for pedestrian and bike path projects.
“The purpose of the project is to connect the residents who live on the west side of Route 9 to the municipal bikeway and to connect the residential areas with the business zone in the city,” Heller stated in an email.
Ford said the engineering is finished and now that the city has the easement, it can solicit bids for the work.
“We are ready to go,” Ford said. “We are hoping to have that project completed in 2021. I’m hoping before summer.”
City Council also voted to buy the Linwood Volunteer Fire Company property at 750 Lincoln Ave., 712 Lincoln Ave. and 129 W. Poplar Ave. for $1 per property and lease it back to the department for $1 per year.
“The volunteer fire department had their own assets, they had the real estate and were maintaining the real estate,” Ford said. “It’s a volunteer fire department that is funded solely from fundraising, donations and whatnot.”
He said the move benefits both the city and fire company “to get the ground and then lease it back to the fire department for $1 in order to help them be successful.”
Ford said the city now “becomes a landlord in a sense.”
“We were helping them maintain the building anyway. Since they’re a nontaxable entity, it wasn’t generating a ratable for the city as is — it’s kind of a net-zero. It insures that the fire department can thrive over the next 20 years.”
The city also passed a resolution authorizing the advertisement of bids for EMS services for Linwood and Northfield.
Finally, the city scheduled the annual reorganization meeting for 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 4.