New Jersey’s top environmental official said the state will make efforts to buy the site of a former junkyard near where George Washington made an important river crossing during the Revolutionary War.
Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley Campbell said he will make it a high priority to buy the land and give the site a more suitable historic profile.
The state would have to purchase the land from the family that owns the former Bergenfield Auto Parts Co. Preservationists have a $1.1 million federal grant, but have been unable to reach agreement with the Lehr family, which bought the junkyard in 1963.
The state could also condemn the property under eminent domain, but Campbell said that could become a lengthy process depending on possible environmental problems at the site.
New Bridge Landing, as the park is known, draws up to 20,000 schoolchildren a year, but lacks a monument to identify its significance and can be difficult to find, according to Robert Griffin of the Historic New Bridge Landing Park Commission.
