The woods west of the Twin Boro Park turf fields, now crossed by informal dirt trails, are slated for a shared-use path lit by bollards. It will take a while. Design on that work runs through April 2028. Pickleball courts, volleyball courts and a pavilion are planned for the same park, and they are paid for by a different grant from a different level of government with its own conditions.
The borough labels these Phase 2 and a third phase. Each one runs on its own funding stream at its own speed, and the one that changes a daily walk is the one with the longest timeline.
The Park You Use Today
Twin Boro Park sits at 100 Twin Boro Lane and covers about 24.73 acres. It has two synthetic turf fields, a dog park, a former swim club building that no longer operates, parking areas and wooded trails. The borough's own environmental assessment calls it "heavily used by the public throughout the year."
That document lists three ways in:
- By car from Twin Boro Lane on the east side
- By car from Harrington Street on the south side
- On foot along a path from Florence Street, through the woods on the west side
The fields came first. In the former Vivyen Field, the borough built an artificial turf baseball and softball field and an artificial turf soccer and football field, with sports lighting, bleachers and an 8-foot-wide asphalt walkway. State wetlands permits for that work were approved on August 13, 2021, and more walkways and light poles followed in 2022.
The paved paths pretty much stop at the fields. The borough's own description says people get around the park on a mix of paved walkways, informal dirt trails and mowed paths. There is an asphalt trail east of the turf fields. To the west, a set of unmaintained footpaths runs through mature woods, and those paths came from people walking them, not from any plan. The parking lot in the northeast corner is gravel, has no ADA-compliant spaces, and rainwater from it soaks into the park around it.
Those western dirt paths and that gravel lot are where most of the planned changes land.
Two Grants, Two Clocks
Here is how the work at Twin Boro breaks down, using the borough's labels:
| Label | What it covers | Who pays | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase I | Two turf fields, sports lighting, 8-foot asphalt walkway | Borough-led redevelopment | Built |
| 2022 second phase of redevelopment | Added walkways and new light poles | Borough-led redevelopment | Underway in 2022 |
| Phase 2 | Shared walking and bike path through the western woods, paved and lit parking lot, connecting paths, bollard lighting, stormwater basins, native plantings | $724,000 federal Transportation Alternatives grant through NJDOT | Preliminary engineering due December 2026, final design through April 2028 |
| Third phase | Three pickleball courts, a pavilion, two volleyball courts, fencing | $2 million Green Acres Urban Parks grant | Approved by the Garden State Preservation Trust on April 14, 2025, pending a state appropriation |
The Phase 2 money is the older of the two grants. Bergenfield's $724,000 award is on the NJTPA FY2023 Transportation Alternatives list. NJDEP announced the third-phase grant on April 25, 2025. Having the older grant has not made Phase 2 the faster project, and the reason is how federal money works.
Why the Woods Path Takes Until 2028
Federal transportation dollars come with a set process: preliminary engineering, a public information session, final design, a second public session, and only after that, construction. Bergenfield held the first session on October 14, 2026, in the third-floor Council Chambers at Borough Hall, 198 North Washington Avenue. According to the borough's project notice, preliminary engineering is expected to wrap up by December 2026. Final design starts after that and runs through April 2028. The federal TAP program, administered by NJDOT Local Aid, reimburses all costs for engineering, construction and construction inspection.
The wait makes more sense once you see how much of the park the path touches. The notice spells out the plan:
- A shared-use path for walkers and cyclists through the woods west of the athletic fields
- A new parking lot connected on the east side of the fields, lit by light poles
- Connecting paths that tie the trail, the fields and the parking lot together and also reach the surrounding neighborhoods
- Low bollard lights along the trail and connecting paths
- Stormwater basins, plus new landscaping with native plants
The goals the borough lists are pedestrian and bicycle safety, ADA compliance, and better walking connections between the park and the streets around it. Right now the Florence Street footpath is the only walking entrance from the west, and it is a dirt path through the trees. Under this plan, the western half of the park becomes something you can walk at dusk under bollard lights instead of a place you only cross in daylight.
The notice also describes the woods themselves. It calls the western part of the park "mature, wooded habitat containing existing informal trails established through pedestrian use." The 2024 assessment lists red maple, sweet gum and pin oak as the main trees there. Running one designed, lit route through that section is the biggest single change to how the park works.
The Courts Depend on Trenton
The third phase is funded through Green Acres, New Jersey's parks and open space program. The NJDEP announcement from April 2025 said that "a $2 million grant to Bergenfield will fund a third phase of work at Twin Borough Park, including the installation of three pickleball courts, a park pavilion, two volleyball courts, and fencing." The full statewide package came from the Garden State Preservation Trust's April 14 approval, and the release tied the funding to the Legislature passing an appropriations bill.
The funded list is shorter than what Bergenfield applied for. The borough's 2024 application covered a lot more:
- Parking lots with 122 new spaces in total, plus parking by the dog park, which stays
- A tot lot and playground, and a splash pad
- Pickleball and basketball courts, a volleyball court and a park pavilion
- A multi-purpose trail with lights, and benches
- An access road, a turnaround for traffic safety, and a sidewalk connecting to Ames Ave
Some of those ideas show up in the federal Phase 2 path project instead, like the lit trail and the new parking. Others, including the playground, the splash pad and the basketball courts, are missing from the $2 million description NJDEP published. For splash pads, the borough's June 2025 notice put that season's openings at Memorial Park and Hickory.
A small note on names: the state's release calls it "Twin Borough Park," and the borough writes "Twin Boro." It is the same park, Block 3, Lot 214.
The Building Between the Plans
The former Bergenfield Swim Club building is the one part of the park that neither grant covers. The 2026 project notice describes it as a "nonfunctional swim club building." The 2024 Green Acres assessment says the swim club and the Bergenfield Dog Park "will remain onsite."
People have floated ideas for the building before. Back in June 2017, NorthJersey.com reported that the borough administrator said a group was interested in redeveloping the property as an indoor aquatic center. The building is still there, and the new paths, parking and lighting in Phase 2 will be built around it.
Your Next Chance to Comment
The Phase 2 notice says the October meeting was "the first of two" during engineering. A second public session will be held during final design, when the project goes back to the public for comment. You don't have to wait for it. The borough's Phase 2 page takes comments by mail or email. It also posts the meeting handout and the displays showing the trail, the parking layout and an overall view of the park. The notice names Borough Administrator Corey Gallo at Borough Hall, 198 North Washington Avenue, and Greenman-Pedersen, Inc., the engineering firm on the project, as the contacts. It also says tenants are invited to take part, not just property owners.
The trail display is the one to look at if you walk the western woods now. It shows where the new shared-use path will go compared with the dirt paths you already know.
I keep a close eye on Bergenfield parks because they shape everyday life in town, and Twin Boro is one I'll keep following through final design. If you'd like to talk about the park plans or what's happening on your street, or just want a free home valuation, Barbara Perez is happy to help, en inglés o en español.
