Cliffside Park's Library Is Spread Across Town Until 2028

The book drop at 505 Palisade Avenue is out of service. The library building behind it at the corner of Edgewater Road is closed so the borough can build its new library and recreation campus there. In their letter to residents, the Cliffside Park Library Board of Trustees asks patrons to bring items to 742 Anderson Avenue during open hours. After hours, you can use the book drop at any BCCLS library.

That change shows how the library works right now. For the next couple of years, the Cliffside Park Public Library isn't one building. It's a satellite branch on Anderson Avenue, a borrowed room at Town Hall, and a countywide network of member libraries. Each one covers part of what the old building used to do.

Anderson Avenue Handles the Everyday

Your day-to-day library is now at 742 Anderson Avenue. The library's location page lists it as the satellite and shows the Palisade Avenue main building as closed.

Weekday and Saturday hours:

• Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Call (201) 945-2867 before you plan a Sunday visit. The borough's library page lists Sundays as temporarily closed, and the November calendar has no Sunday programs.

The trustees' letter is upfront about the size:

"While this location is a smaller version of our library at 505 Palisade Avenue, it was thoughtfully designed to provide the most popular services, materials, and resources, our residents rely on."

Returning a Book Takes a Different Route

Many residents are used to dropping off books at Palisade Avenue on the way to Town Hall. That habit needs a reset:

1. During open hours, bring returns to the desk at 742 Anderson Avenue.
2. After hours, use the book drop at any library in the Bergen County Cooperative Library System.
3. Skip the old drop at 505 Palisade Avenue. The trustees say it's no longer in service.

The network helps with borrowing too. Your Cliffside Park card works across the BCCLS system, so you can borrow, use resources and visit any participating library while the home branch is temporarily relocated. At an August session, staff explained that the satellite is part of BCCLS and that patrons, including those requesting from home, can order items from other member libraries. Citizen Portal reported on that session.

The Smaller Room Changes How Programs Run

At that same August session, staff described what the Anderson Avenue space offers. Citizen Portal reported that patrons keep public computers, scanning to email and USB, fax and printing. The satellite also added privacy pods with lighting, fans and acoustic panels.

Space is the limit. Staff said children's programs, adult services, and the ESL and citizenship classes would restart at the satellite in September. They also said the program room holds about 25 to 26 people. Citizen Portal reported that staff are setting up the space to keep as many programs as they can despite the smaller footprint.

You can see that limit in the November calendar. Family Storytime on Tuesdays now runs as two sessions, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Registration is required, and doors open at 8:45 for the early group. Little Bookworms Yoga Storytime, for children under 6, also requires registration.

Town Hall Takes the Overflow

Musical Mornings with Miss Fran, for babies from 3 months to 5-year-olds, moved up the street. The calendar lists it in the third-floor Council Chamber at Town Hall, 525 Palisade Avenue. That's next door to where the old library stood.

Here's what the library's calendar shows from Friday, Nov. 20, through Thanksgiving week:

Learn to Draw with Toni and the beginner and intermediate adult calligraphy class meet on Mondays as well. The calendar shows no programs on Thanksgiving or the Friday after.

The holidays reach past the library, too. The library scheduled Ornament Decorating sessions for Nov. 18, with each child making two ornaments, one to take home and one "for our town tree."

The New Building Brings These Pieces Back Together

The building replacing all this is set up the way the temporary system is: one service per level, each with its own street entrance. The site covers three borough-owned parcels: the old library at the corner of Palisade Avenue and Edgewater Road, the two-story former Jewish Community Center on Edgewater Road, and an asphalt lot at Edgewater Road and Lindberg Avenue.

The land slopes, so the borough's design-build solicitation gives every level its own entrance at street grade:

• First level, library children's floor: entered from Palisade Avenue across a raised pedestrian plaza. It holds the Children's Section with its own stacks, study and computer areas, a reading lounge, a program room and a meeting room.
• Second level, library adult floor: entered from Edgewater Road. It holds the Adult and Young Adult sections, a Local History Area with exhibition space, a quiet reading room, a gaming and activity room, and five study rooms.
• Third level, recreation center: entered from Lindberg Avenue. It has a 6,500-square-foot gym, a fitness center and two activity rooms. A rooftop outdoor gathering space sits on top of the library's second floor.

Parking goes under parts of the building on two separate levels, and drivers can't move between them inside. Cars reach the lower level through the Municipal Complex lot off Palisade Avenue and the upper level from Edgewater Road.

NETTA Architects is the architect of record. Its project page lists a 20,864-square-foot library, a 19,637-square-foot recreation center with a full-size basketball court, and enclosed parking. The library being replaced is about 9,000 square feet, so the new library alone is more than twice its size. NETTA describes the recreation center as the borough's first municipal recreation center and the whole campus as Cliffside Park's largest capital project in 50 years.

How the Contract Was Decided

The project uses what NETTA calls a bridged design-build approach. Arcari + Iovino Architects is the bridging architect, Terminal Construction is the design-builder, and NETTA is the architect of record.

The borough's Technical Review Committee report weighted price and technical scores equally. Terminal's $32.4 million proposal came in 2.42% above the low bid of four, but its top technical score put it first overall. The mayor and council adopted Resolution 2026-153 on June 18, 2026, authorizing the contract with Terminal Construction Corporation. Citizen Portal reported the vote.

In August, the council accepted the library demolition work, kept Arcari + Iovino as municipal architect and hired M&M Construction Company as construction manager. At the same meeting, the council added $4.75 million in state grant funding to the project. The borough and NETTA both put state grant support at about $18 million, and NETTA credits Senator Paul A. Sarlo and Assemblymen Clinton Calabrese and Gary Schaer with helping secure it.

The schedule sets how long the library stays spread out. NETTA's page says construction was scheduled to begin in fall 2026, with completion targeted for 2028. The borough's original solicitation called for substantial completion and readiness to occupy by May 1, 2028, and final completion by July 1, 2028. The borough posts updates as "Notice of Construction Activities" letters on its community news page.

Until then, keep 742 Anderson Avenue for everyday visits, Town Hall's Council Chamber for Miss Fran's Tuesday mornings, and any BCCLS book drop for late-night returns.

As your neighbor in Cliffside Park, I follow projects like this new campus at Palisade and Edgewater because they shape daily life on these blocks, and they'll come up in plenty of conversations about the area in the next few years. If you'd like a local read on what a big civic project down the street could mean for your home, Barbara Perez is happy to talk, in English or Spanish. Let's connect, and get your free home valuation.