By Emily Schopfer
FAIR HAVEN – The Fair Haven Environmental Commission announced that the borough has been awarded Living Shoreline technical services from Stevens Institute of Technology for the development of a pocket park at the end of Fair Haven Road. These services will be in addition to a $318,750 Green Acres Grant already received from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The grant and services will help fund the natural development of the site between the Fair Haven fishing pier and Fair Haven Yacht Works marina. The total project is estimated at $1.275 million.
Borough administrator Christopher J. York explained that the Living Shoreline study will be funded by Stevens Institute of Technology, a private research university in Hoboken.
“The borough has been working with Stevens Institute of Technology in a collaborative capacity to develop a concept plan that is not an engineered edge, commonly referred to a bulkhead, for the pocket park at 21 Fair Haven Road,” York said. Stevens Institute, which he described as “integral in creating the technical guidelines for the development of living shorelines in New Jersey,” has agreed to fund the design of the living shoreline portion of the project.
The major difference between bulkheads and living shorelines is that bulkheads are manmade structures installed along shorelines, while living shorelines are made with natural, organic materials such as stone and sand, or plants such as dunes that are natural erosion defenders. Bulkheads are designed to withstand the forces of waves and currents, according to the NJDEP, but living shorelines are “frequently more beneficial than hard structure responses, such as bulkheads.”
The contrast between living shorelines and bulkheads was discussed at the Feb. 11 borough council meeting when the Fair Haven Parks and Recreation Department presented the Green Acres Grant proposal to the council and public.
The full requested amount of $318,750 for the Green Acres Grant was approved in May, according to a May NJDEP Green Acres Funding Report and the award was confirmed by York.
“On June 2, 2026, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) approved Fair Haven Borough’s application for a Green Acres matching grant of $318,750. This funding is contingent upon the passage of a legislative appropriation at the New Jersey state level,” York said.
On June 5, NJDEP’s Acting Commissioner Ed Potosnak announced in a news release that $90.6 million in Green Acres funding was awarded “for local government and nonprofit projects to acquire open space, develop and improve parks, and enhance recreation and conservation resources in communities across the state.”
York noted that “preserving land, improving local parks, and stewarding our natural resources are critical components of their efforts to ensure high quality, close-to-home open space and recreation opportunities for all residents. This project at 21 Fair Haven Road represents a significant step toward their shared goal of protecting and enhancing New Jersey’s quality of life.”
This grant will provide a fourth of the total $1.275 million needed for the project.
The borough is in the process of applying for additional grants, such as the Natural Climate Solutions Grant. “We are still working with Stevens Institute; they were going to be building a conceptual plan for 21 Fair Haven Road in an attempt to get the Climate Solutions Grant,” said Environmental Commission chair Kelly Flanagan.
That grant, also through the NJDEP, funds projects that either “create, restore, and enhance New Jersey’s natural carbon sinks,” according to the NJDEP’s website. Carbon sinks are reservoirs that absorb more carbon dioxide than is emitted. Some large-scale examples of carbon sinks are the Amazon Rainforest or the oceans. But even smaller sinks such as “salt marshes, seagrass beds, forests, urban parks and woodlands” can help “meet New Jersey’s climate, clean energy, and equity goals,” according to the NJDEP.
Flanagan said the board hopes to receive a conceptual plan from Stevens Institute of Technology within the upcoming weeks. Since the Natural Climate Solutions Grant application depends on these concept plans, dollar amounts and timelines have not yet been confirmed. York did confirm that the borough has had several in-person and virtual meetings with Stevens and is “still currently in the preliminary stages of the development of the concept plan.”
Preliminary plans were presented to the public and the council Feb. 11 by Richard Gardella, director of engineering and a planning and zoning officer, and D.J. Breckenridge, the parks and recreation director. Those plans depicted a “passive park design” with “low recreational impact, such as walking, sitting, nature observation,” as opposed to “loud obstructive sport complexes and playgrounds,” Breckenridge said.
As of June 16, “The Borough of Fair Haven has already removed the former structure from the property and seeded and graded the property,” York said. The project will continue to be completed in phases, but there is no expected completion date as of this time.
The article originally appeared in the June 25 – July 1, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
