The Patcong Valley Society of Model railroaders will have their annual open
house from 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday and on January 10 and 11 in
Richland.
Newfield resident John Viola donated a WI 1906 switch
tower to Buena Vista Township. The Public Works Department has been
restoring the switch tower and recently moved two sections of the tower to
Richland Village.
The Cape May Seashore Lines Richland
Village Santa Express Train will begin running this Saturday, November 22 and
will continue every Saturday through December 20.
The Train will run on the following
Sundays in December 7, 14 and 21.
UPPER TOWNSHIP - It was the last train to Richland, and it was leaving at the
station.
No, wait, it was the only train to Richland - and it wasn't going
anywhere.
"Well, if you like trains, this is going to be fun,"said conductor Dave Gairo,
who informed passengers that a Conrail train had right of way on the Tuckahoe
tracks. "If you're only so-so about trains ..."
So it was that the second leg of the first Richland/Tuckahoe train trip of
the year - already delayed from its usual summer schedule - was delayed a little
more.
Not that many of the occasionally rail-crazed passengers minded.
"It's great to be back," said Paul Mulligan, of the New Jersey Association of
Railroad Passengers. "We've been a big supporter of this for many years."
While the engine and passenger cars date from no later than 1955, according
to Cape May Seashore Lines President Tony Macrie, many of Saturday's rail-riders
have been around no longer than a decade.
"We've been waiting to do it for him," Upper Township resident Donna Valenti
said of her young grandson, Blake Edwards. "The children love it."
The late start on the season was due to rehabilitation work on the Richland
Village train station in Buena Vista Township, Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.
"The last couple of months, we've gotten so many calls: "When's the train
coming? When's the train coming?" Chiarello said. "Part of it is getting the
momentum back."
The new siding next to the station - which will allow the trains to be housed
in Richland starting next week - was built through a grant partly funded by the
Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, Chiarello said. The trains themselves
are run entirely by the Cape May Seashore Lines.
The station is part of the overall railroad theme that township officials are
trying to develop at Richland, including the Patcong Valley Model Railroad
Society nearby
Back aboard the life-size train during its unexpected delay was Ann Gairo,
the conductor's wife - who is also known to moonlight as Mrs. Claus during the
Cape May Seashore Lines' December schedule.
"I was hidden in the closet," Gairo said of her interest in railroading. "I
didn't know how much I liked trains until I met my husband."
"A very good move," said "regular rail fan" Dottie Connell, of Mullica
Township.
"This is great," Gairo summed up. "We love trains. It's the perfect day."
Cape May Seashore Lines will run two 90-minute round trips between Richland
and Tuckahoe in Cape May County every Saturday until late December. For more
information, call 1-800-984-2055.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP - Beginning today, Richland Village
station will have a train of its own to match its newly rehabilitated train
line.
For three years, Cape May Seashore Lines has run a 90-minute round trip from
Tuckahoe, Cape May County, to this Buena Vista Township section, attracting
summer visitors but always hauling the train away at the end of the day.
Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello said a scheduled rehabilitation of
the town's train station has been completed, allowing a late start to the
season.
"These are really giant antiques," Chiarello said of the line's trains -
which date from the 1940s and 1950s. "Now the train will live here and people
will be able to see it up close."
Finding a couple of parts for one train has been part of the season's delay,
he said. But more significant has been the town's effort to redo the station's
sidings. "That cost half a million dollars, which we received through grants,"
he said Friday.
Since 2005, the township has joined with Cape May Seashore Line President
Tony Macrie to bring a particular kind of railroad experience for visitors,
along tracks which still carry freight. "It's really a step back in time,"
Chiarello said. "There won't be a lot of hoopla on Saturday. But what's
important is that we're moving forward with this."
Trains will run twice a day Saturday from now until late December.
NJ Transit is proposing three projects that would provide more rail links for
train travelers in southern New Jersey.
One project involves extending the Cape May Seashore Line north - apparently
from its station in the Richland section of Buena Vista Township - to link with
the Atlantic City Line near Hammonton.
Another would build a new station to link the Atlantic City Line - which runs
between Atlantic City and Philadelphia - with the River Line light rail system
that runs between Camden and Trenton. That would provide easier rail access
between Atlantic City and Trenton.
The third involves overall upgrades for the Atlantic City Line.
The projects are contained in the fiscal year 2009 capital program proposed
by the state Department of Transportation, which provides significant funding
for NJ Transit.
The document outlines no specific costs or specifics for any of the three
projects. It sets the amount of money allocated for those three projects, and a
series of other proposed projects ranging from a rail spur to the Meadowlands
sports complex to park-and-ride lots throughout the state, at $174.5 million.
With less than 100 miles of active heavy, light and commuter rail lines, rail
service in southern New Jersey is limited for several counties and nonexistent
in the rest. Northern New Jersey has at least seven rail lines and almost 600
miles of track.
The Atlantic City Line is the major rail line in southern New Jersey, but
it's primarily geared to hauling passengers between Atlantic City and
Philadelphia.
Traveling between Atlantic City and Trenton requires riders to transfer
trains at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. Linking the Atlantic City Line and
River Line with a new station where the lines currently cross in Pennsauken
could provide an easier and faster way to travel between the gambling resort and
the state capital, according to proponents of the plan.
The Cape May Seashore Line runs tourist excursions between Cape May and Cape
May Court House in Middle Township, and between Tuckahoe in Cape May County's
Upper Township and Richland.
However, rail proponents have pushed for years to make the Seashore Line run
all the way between Cape May and the Atlantic City Line, with a linkup in or
near Hammonton, as a way to provide another public transportation route in the
region. Train and local officials also say it would benefit the region's tourist
economy, whether it's Cape May County's seashore resorts or Buena Vista
Township's fledgling Richland Village.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP - On a guided tour along the short series of roads in
Richland, just beyond the sound of steam whistles, Mayor Chuck Chiarello points
out pieces of the long-since abandoned infrastructure in the once-bustling
railroad town.
It's been about 30 or 40 years, he says, since the trains that moved between
Camden, Atlantic City, shore points and all stops in between finally ceased to
exist, and it's been nearly four years since he's tried to bring some of it
back.
Richland Village, the site of Chiarello's hopeful railroad renaissance,
hosted its inaugural Trains and Fire Engines event, showcasing modern and
antique fire equipment as well as the community's commitment to reinvigorating
its railroad history.
Against the backdrop of a few inconspicuous, pale yellow buildings that serve
the town's functioning railroad, visitors watched model trains, took pictures in
front of historic cabooses and watched their children ride on a miniature steam
train.
"This is our project," Chiarello said. "We're a small town, and we're trying
to make something here, something that's family oriented and something that fits
in with the character of this town."
Chiarello talks about what he'd like to do. There's a 100-year-old building,
now vacant, that was at one time the town's hotel. He'd like to see it taken
over, rehabbed and reopened.
Adjacent to the train station is a township-owned building that houses the
Patcong Valley Society of Model Railroads. The group, which used to operate in
Egg Harbor Township, has set up intricate tracks and realistic scenery inside
the building to make its model operation more of a destination than a simple
hobby.
With grant funding, Chiarello said, the township would be able to extend the
sidewalk even farther down the road, giving the tourists they'd like to attract
a little more room to walk and enjoy their stay.
With much of the community surrounded by protected pinelands, there's not
much that can be done on a large development scale. The quaintness is something
to be appreciated, he said, and while the process of redevelopment is slow and
hamstrung by environmental restrictions, there's something to be said about
doing it the old-fashioned way.
"This project may take 10 years. None of these things happen overnight,
unless you just slap something together," Chiarello said. "We continue to try
and make something happen with the little we have. I don't say that sadly,
that's just the reality of the situation."
He's even got plans, despite the bureaucracy, he said, to revive the
attraction most crucial to Richland's tourism success, its functional railroad.
Cape May Seashore Lines takes passengers on a 30-mile round trip ride to
Tuckahoe and back. The trains will start running for a third summer season in
two weeks, Chiarello said.
Chiarello said he'd eventually like to see the train run all the way to Cape
May. There are hurdles, however. Stations would need to be built, infrastructure
improved, and most importantly, a tourist base would need to exist to support
the railroad.
Seashore Lines owner Tony Macrie has come under fire for not moving train
cars that have been vandalized and are deteriorating on train tracks behind a
new movie theatre in Middle Township.
In April, after nearly three years, the Middle Township Board of Health
passed a resolution asking a Superior Court judge to intervene and either force
Macrie to move his trains or allow the township to move them at his expense. The
board says the trains create a public nuisance.
Chiarello said that while the train tracks are owned and operated by state
agencies, Seashore Lines has operating rights at Richland Village. Despite the
issues facing Macrie, Chiarello said the township is trying to partner with
other municipalities to make the ride longer.
It won't be a clear shot to Cape May, he said, not yet. Chiarello would like
to see the ride extended at least six more miles to Woodbine, then another five
miles to Dennis Township, then, someday, to Cape May.
"We've been trying to get it right," he said. "We're still looking for our
niche."
While the township waits, events such as Sunday's Trains and Fire Engines
expo help inform tourists that Richland Village exists. Chiarello credited
Atlantic County Fire Marshall Whitey Swartz for coming up with the idea to host
the show.
While the event featured numerous fire engine and train-oriented activities,
Swartz said he anticipates even greater participation next year.
"We had a meeting and decided this would be a great place to have this," he
said. "Kids love it, men love it, we'll just keep adding to it until we have an
even better show here."
A grant in the amount of $250,000 was
awarded last week to Buena Vista. The aid will pay for sidewalks, lighting and
accommodations in Richland Village.
The Township Committee will be supporting
a financial aid request Conrail is making to state government. Conrail is
seeking $450,000 to do track repairs.
For nearly 10 months out of the year, the Patcong Valley Society of Model
Railroaders works in secret. Only club members with keys can access the
clubhouse on Route 40 in Richland to build paper mache mountains, carve out
rivers and - best of all - watch their miniature model trains speed down
newly-laid tracks.
But the holidays bring out the train lover in everyone. And during these
select few weekends in December and January, local model railroad clubs like
Patcong Valley invite outsiders to share in their passion.
"Everyone comes to visit," says Patcong Valley member Ralph Cox. "We'll get
railroad buffs from all kinds of clubs. Children who just walk around and look.
Everyone."
December especially brings visions of Lionel trains running in a circle under
the Christmas tree and children unwrapping their first train sets. Most local
railroad buffs admit that the holidays were what started their train passions.
"I was born on Dec. 4," says Norm Wescoat, vice president of the South Jersey
Railroad Museum in Tuckahoe. "I got my first train set that Christmas."
The Patcong Valley Society of Model Railroaders plans its annual open house
weekends to coincide with the winter holidays. During opening weekend earlier
this month, the parking lot outside the society's Richland clubhouse was
overflowing. Inside, grown men wearing engineer coveralls and striped caps
clutched remote controls and kept a sharp eye on the tiny trains that traveled
under mountains, through tunnels and past small model cities.
Adults and children shared the same innocent look of wonder as they watched
the trains chug by or stopped to examine the detail in a lifelike lumber mill.
Some children brought their own stools to stand on so they could peer over the
plexiglass siding and see the miniature buildings and trees in the layouts.
Timmy Stewart, 13, of Dorothy dashed back and forth across the room snapping
photos with a digital camera and collecting ideas for his own train layout at
home.
"I like how they got a lot of track in a little space," Stewart says, eyeing
the layouts critically. "But I would put the higher tracks on the inside so
people can see them."
In Clermont, Dennis Township, Joe and Flo Jones have already put a few
festive touches on Flyertown, a one-man model railroad exhibit on display in a
building behind their house. Inside, the flick of a lightswitch revealed
wall-to-wall shelves of collectible American Flyer railroad cars dating back to
to World War II and beyond. In the center of the room, brightly colored holiday
trains, circus trains and replicas of local lines ran along hundreds of feet of
track, waiting for the December crowd.
"The same kids come every year," Flo Jones says. "And every year they get
bigger and bigger."
The South Jersey Railroad Museum in Tuckahoe - which is open year-round - has
also adopted a holiday feel. Strings of lights, a snow-covered holiday train
layout and Santa Claus give this year-round train attraction a holiday feel and
visitors young and old tour the building.
Luke Neff, 5, wandered from room to room with the air of one who has been
there many times before. This was not just a holiday treat for the five-year-old
Seaville resident. He drags his parents to the museum at least twice a month.
"His grandfather was really into train collecting, and he left them to Luke,"
Paula Neff says as her son strolled through the museum. "Now that's all he's
into is trains."
Perhaps there are adult-sized coveralls in his future as well.
Model Railroad Attractions
Cape May County
South Jersey Railroad Museum, Mt. Pleasant Ave., Tuckerton. Open 11 a.m. to 3
p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday year-round. Santa Claus
will be there each weekend until Christmas. Free. For more information, go to
www.sjrails.net.
Flyertown, Route 9, Clermont in Dennis Township. Open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday year-round. Admission is $2.50 for adults, $1.50 for
children ages 5 to 12, and free for children under 5. Visit
The Richland Merchants Association meet to discuss the
Richland Village Shops Christmas Tour. The event will be held on November 30th
from 6 pm to 10 pm.
COLD SPRING — If you sit on a bench at Cold Spring Railroad Station and wait
for the next train, a cobweb could grow between your head and a post before the
next one arrives.
The rails are getting a bit rusty. No longer is the rumble of a diesel
locomotive heard or a whistle at a Bennett’s Crossing or in Cape May.
No trains were run all summer by Cape May Seashore Lines on the Cape May to
Court House section due to poor track condition. The railroad flourishes at the
far end of the tracks, operating trains from Tuckahoe to Richland in Atlantic
County.
The dream of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers (NJARP) and
others is for the state to appropriate $27 million to replace railroad ties from
Cape May to Tuckahoe, some sections of rail, tighten about 39,000 bolts, upgrade
ballast under tracks with 43,000 tons of clean stone and complete repairs on
four bridges. A total of $1.8 million would be spent on the movable bridge that
crosses the Cape May Canal.
A report from NJARP includes input from Mayor Chuck Chiarello of Buena Vista
Township, Mayor William Pikolycky of Woodbine and Dennis Township Administrator
Jody Alessandrine, according to Paul Mulligan, Cape May Branch liaison for NJARP.
The tracks are owned by New Jersey Transit (NJT) and leased to Cape May
Seashore Lines from Cape May to Tuckahoe with track rights provided from
Richland to Tuckahoe. Interestingly enough, NJT has granted track rights to Cape
May Seashore Lines to Winslow Junction, which connects to Philadelphia.
The track project would employ 18 to 20 personnel on a daily basis from 16 to
24 months, according to the study. When finished, 42 miles of good track would
exist from Cape May to Richland and a trip that could be made one-way in about
90 minutes.
A track washout in Dennisville that occurred due to the April 15 nor’easter
has kept trains from running on the Cape May branch since all locomotives are
currently trapped on the north side of the problem area.
In addition, 8.6 miles of track are out of service from the 4H Fairgrounds in
Court House to Woodbine, where all 30,000 railroad ties are beyond their service
life.
From 4H to Cape May, about 15,500 ties have been replaced of a needed 50,000.
To repair just the section from Cape May to Court House, 13 miles, would cost
$7 million and from Court House to Woodbine, 10 miles, is priced at $14 million.
For repairs on the canal bridge and the Woodbine to Tuckahoe section, 5
miles, is estimated at $7 million.
Mulligan sees advantages to restoring the entire rail line including possible
park-and-ride service for car-choked Cape May and a station stop in Rio Grande
that could provide transportation for visitors or employees from the Wildwoods
by connecting the train to the Five Mile Trolley.
He projects a train from Richland to Cape May running on weekends 10 months per
year. Another train would operate from Rio Grande to Cape May on a daily basis
about 10 weeks of the year.
Mulligan said Cape May could benefit from the restored tracks because the
train would put visitors in the city for four hours before the return train.
Restoration of the full line could bring in more tourists from the Richland
Station, which is only 35 minutes from Philadelphia, 45 to 50 minutes from the
Delaware Memorial Bridge and an hour and 10 minutes from Trenton, said Mulligan.
He said every railroad tie does not need to be brand new but the “youngest” ties
between Court House and Woodbine are 35 years old with the average tie at 50
years old. The life expectancy of a tie is about 25 years, he said.
In the world of transportation, $27 million is not a huge sum of money, said
Mulligan
“New Jersey Transit has capital budget every year of $1.5 billion,” he said.
“New Jersey DOT which includes New Jersey Transit has a capital budget in excess
of $3 billion every year.”
He said the project would need a push from our local assemblymen and senator.
“We have to show the executive branch in Trenton this is valuable to the economy
of this region, a region that doesn’t get its fair share of transportation
projects,” said Mulligan.
Motorists pay a gasoline tax, which funds transportation projects.
A Christmas tradition continues with the arrival
of THE SANTA EXPRESS!
Ride the
Cape May Seashore Lines on a comfortable, relaxing and fun train ride
with Santa Claus! Kids...bring your letters to Santa! Parents...bring your
cameras! It's Christmas Holiday fun for the entire family!
For THE SANTA EXPRESS
SATURDAYS
November 17, 24 and
December 1, 8, 15 and 22
Santa will be on every train.
Reservations for
THE SANTA EXPRESS are not
required and seating is on a first come basis only.
Regarding the Aug. 11 story "More train service the ticket":
Restoration of rail services to Cape May is a logical next step to meet the
growing demands for mobility in southern New Jersey. As your article correctly
notes, significant benefits to the southern New Jersey tourism industry will be
realized as a direct result of this restoration project.
Rail operator Cape May Seashore Lines has already demonstrated the potential
benefit and opportunity associated with rail service operations. Even with
limited (by distance) service offering, Cape May Seashore Lines accommodated
more than 16,000 riders to and from Cape May in 2005. Completing restoration of
the Cape May line to enable direct service from Cape May to Tuckahoe (and
intermediate points) will add significantly to this ridership profile.
Not mentioned in your article is the direct relationship between mobility and
public safety. If a Katrina-like event were to occur in southern New Jersey
during the peak season, a fully functional Cape May line could prove to be a
very critical element in conducting time-sensitive evacuation operations. Such
evacuation operations could leverage both equipment and personnel from across
the NJ Transit rail system, including the Atlantic City Line.
NJ Transit Executive Director Richard Sarles is to be commended for his
willingness to gain a first-hand understanding of this matter. Now is the time
for state leadership at all levels to engage in finding a way to move forward
with this very important project.
Frank and Dolores
Comparri have started a group called Richland Village Merchants' Association.
This group is of businesspeople united in the goal of bringing more customer
traffic into the village. For more information call 856-697-1482 or email
mee907@aaol.com.
Inside
the historic Tuckahoe train station, public officials on Friday afternoon
pitched NJ Transit for $27 million in track repairs for an excursion line from
Richland to Cape May.
More than a dozen elected officials from Cape May and Atlantic counties took
a ceremonious train ride on the Cape May Seashore Lines to meet NJ Transit
Executive Director Richard Sarles in Tuckahoe.
Meanwhile, inside a white Ford Explorer at the station parking lot, two
Middle Township officials made their own pitch to Sarles, one with a
significantly different tone.
They showed him photographs of decrepit trains and asked him to forgo any
possible funding until Cape May Seashore Lines moves vandalized trains from
tracks in Rio Grande.
The trains have been a sore spot for Middle Township officials for several
years.
The concept of sweeping passenger railroad coverage down the shore has
excited some southern New Jersey officials who want to increase tourism without
increasing traffic jams and parking nightmares.
“There is a real interest to build this rail line,” Buena Vista Township
Mayor Chuck Chiarello said inside the quaint Tuckahoe train station. “The
infrastructure is around here. We’re just looking for the missing link.”
The tracks run from Richland to Tuckahoe through Woodbine down to Cape May
Court House and Cold Spring, terminating in Cape May.
But Cape May Seashore Lines owner Tony Macrie has been in a contentious
relationship with Middle Township officials for years about vandalized trains
stored on the tracks along Route 47 in Rio Grande.
Middle Township Solicitor James Pickering said the township did not want to
stop rail line improvements, but wanted its issues addressed.
He and former Mayor Michael Voll, a vocal opponent of the trains in Rio
Grande, met with Sarles before officials gathered in the Tuckahoe train station.
In March, Middle Township Committee even passed a resolution requesting it be
notified of any federal, state or county government funding requests by Seashore
Lines.
Officials estimate about $27 million is needed to repair train tracks,
particularly those between Woodbine and Cape May Court House.
Dennis Township is seeking federal funding for a train station to be built in
Dennisville, Dennis Township Administrator Jody Alessandrine said. Also needed,
he said, is about $6 million in infrastructure for the tracks in the township.
This week, the state Department of Community Affairs announced it is lending
$435,000 to Woodbine for track repairs, a parking lot and a new rail platform
for the Cape May Seashore Lines excursion.
Chiarello sees a boon to the communities and businesses located alongside the
tracks. He objected to the way Middle Township officials approached Sarles at
the event Friday.
“Obviously we had a group of 25 folks that were there for the betterment of
the project,” he said. “That was our mission today. I was a little blindsided,
and I think it was inappropriate for Mike Voll to use that opportunity to bring
up an issue that’s totally unrelated to that project we’re working on. “It was
more of an embarrassment. I felt it was an embarrassment to Middle Township to
attempt to become a spoiler to what otherwise was a positive day.”
Meanwhile, Middle Township will probably start citing and fining Cape May
Seashore Lines shortly for trains stored in Rio Grande, said Township
Administrator James Alexis, who did not attend Friday’s event.
“It’s literally come to a boiling point with the residents affected by the
sight of the cars and the level of deterioration they’ve reached, and we feel
we’re not getting the cooperation of the rail operator,” Alexis said.
Township officials said they are concerned about the unsightly trains and the
criminal element attracted to them after dark.
Township officials have said that, despite being assured the trains would be
relocated, they have remained unmoved for several years.
Macrie said he is being vilified for an issue beyond his control.
The trains were in pristine condition when he first stored them in Rio Grande
but have fallen victim to serious damage and vandalism, he said.
The trains are sprayed with graffiti, windows are cracked and doors are
missing.
Macrie said moving the trains now requires fixing damage done to the tracks
following storms in April.
“If you owned a car and someone was vandalizing it, and you had the
opportunity to move it, wouldn’t you move it?” Macrie said Friday. “We’re a
small company. We’re not a gigantic operation.”
“Look at the stuff here,” Macrie said, pointing to the shiny silver and black
trains on the tracks in Tuckahoe. “This is the way it looked when we placed it
there.”
Meanwhile, the trains can be a lure for tourism, history and transportation,
he said. In 2005, about 16,000 people took the train in and out of Cape May, he
said.
“Our position is, here we would love to see mass transit coming into Cape
May. We have significant traffic and parking problems,” said Lou Corea, Cape May
City manager.
The train had run into Cape May previously but has not done so recently due
to bridge repairs over the Cape May Canal, Corea said.
Inside the train station, Sarles told officials gathered that the project was
on his radar, but that there were many other priorities in New Jersey as well.
He stressed that federally earmarked money could move the project along.
Chiarello said he found the meeting encouraging
The large scale of the project could be done in pieces over several years.
“We can get this done, town by town, section by section. Rome wasn’t built in
a day,” he said.
On Friday, Voll and Pickering’s presence and statements on Friday irked some
who had gathered to pitch NJ Transit for funding.
After Sarles left, Voll and Pickering were arguing with Paul Mulligan, of the
New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers.
“You guys have a lot of nerve,” Mulligan said inside the train station,
adding their statements could hurt the recent funding requests.
“If you think they’re going to give that guy (Macrie) $27 million,” Voll
yelled, “you must believe in the Easter Bunny.
Former Middle Township mayor Michael Voll, (left) talks with Cape
May Seashore Lines owner Tony Macrie about the graffiti covered
trains in Rio Grande. Middle Township solicitor James Pickering
(center) listens in. Local officials took a ride on the
Richland-Tuckahoe rail excursion Friday Aug. 10, 2007, to persuade
New Jersey Transit about the benefits of restoring rail service down
the spine of Cape May County. Cape May Seashore Lines runs two small
excursions in the northern and southern ends of the county.
Officials in various Atlantic and Cape May County towns say service
from Buena Vista Township to Cape May would help tourism and
industry.
PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY PHOTO / DALE GERHARD
6 p.m. Update - Inside the historic Tuckahoe train station,
public officials on Friday afternoon made their pitch to NJ Transit to fund up
to $27 million in improvements to railroad tracks from Richland to Cape May.
Ten minutes earlier inside a white Ford Explorer, two Middle Township
officials made their own pitch to NJ Transit Executive Director Richard Sarles,
asking him to forgo funding until Cape May Seashore Lines moves vandalized
trains from tracks in Rio Grande.
The concept of sweeping passenger railroad coverage down the shore has
excited some local officials who see the desire to increase tourism without
increasing traffic jams and parking nightmares.
“There is a real interest to build this trail line,” Buena Vista Township
Mayor Chuck Chiarello said inside the quaint Tuckahoe train station.
But in Middle Township, Cape May Seashore Lines owner Tony Macrie has been in
a contentious relationship with Middle Township officials for years about trains
stored on the tracks along Route 47 in Rio Grande.
In March, Middle Township Committee passed a resolution requesting it be
notified of any federal, state or county government funding requests by Seashore
Lines.
Middle Township Solicitor James Pickering said the township did not want to
stop a rail line, but wanted its issues addressed.
Inside the train station, an argument ensued between former Middle Township
Mayor Michael Voll and Paul Mulligan, of the New Jersey Association of Railroad
Passengers.
Chef John Hoover opened his
new restaurant The Richland House in Richland Village on 1303 Harding Highway
the former site of AJ's Pub and Brassie's Place near the railroad tracks in
Richland.
The redevelopment of Richland Village pre-bid
conference was held yesterday. Only two interested parties showed up but
township officials are pleased with the response.
About a dozen travel writers and editors representing magazines
and newspapers across the country and Canada came Wednesday to ride the train in
Richland.
UPPER TOWNSHIP — A Cape May County railroad excursion is launching its third
season Saturday, and merchants in Tuckahoe said they couldn't be happier.
Cape May Seashore Lines is living up to its promise to boost business in this
sleepy river town.
“It's slow coming, but it has improved our train museum and our membership,”
said David Levari, president of the Greater Tuckahoe Area Merchants Association.
“The town looks better.”
The 40-minute ride between Tuckahoe and Richland is popular, especially in
the winter when it becomes the Santa Express, owner Tony Macrie said. Taking a
cue from that success, the train will host the Easter Bunny this spring.
“We had 5,000 people ride between August and December. That's just 20
operating days,” Macrie said. “I think it's had a positive impact.”
On Thursday, Macrie and his crew tinkered with one of their engines in
preparation for Saturday's first ride. On tracks nearby, the gleaming silver
cars of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus train sat idle. And in the
distance, the horn of an oil train bellowed on its way to the B.L. England power
plant in Beesleys Point.
Cape May Seashore Lines has partnered with Levari's Station House banquet
hall for train-themed weddings. One last week brought 160 people to a reception
in Tuckahoe. Another 210 people participated in a Station House fundraiser
dinner and ride.
Levari said the biggest challenge for the Greater Tuckahoe Area Merchants
Association is attracting more merchants to Tuckahoe. He counts just 54 members.
But Levari said he sees the train playing a bigger role in developing Cape May
County tourism.
He jokingly said the excursion goes “from nowhere to absolutely nowhere.” But
if the line were extended from Tuckahoe all the way to Cape May as originally
conceived, it would be a huge draw, Levari said.
A separate Cape May Seashore Lines excursion runs between Cape May Court
House and Cape May. But the tracks between Woodbine and Cape May Court House are
in need of major repairs.
“When I heard it was going to Richland, I couldn't believe it. It's going the
wrong way,” Levari said.
Many riders venture into the two train museums in Richland and Tuckahoe.
Levari said the excursion has boosted attendance twenty-fold at the Tuckahoe
museum operated by the Shoreline Railroad Historical Society.
And in Richland, the Patcong Valley Model Railroaders opened a museum off
Route 40 with scale models.
In Tuckahoe, kayakers paddle the gentle Tuckahoe River and a steady stream of
traffic zooms by on Route 50. The railroad is by far the biggest tourism draw.
“We get patrons here who ride the trains on Saturday,” said Mark Bluth, who
owns Tuckahoe Junction Deli. “It can't hurt.”
Upper Township Mayor Richard Palombo said he has taken the excursion to
Richland.
“It's an interesting trip with nice scenery,” he said.
But he thinks of the railroad in terms of transportation. In an emergency,
the train could help evacuate people without clogging jammed highways.
But for most riders of this excursion, the train is the destination.
The Township
received three bids on hiring a contractor to construct a siding in Richland.
The Township rejected all of them. The Township Engineer will make some
changes and plans to rebid the project later this week or early next week.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP — There is a way to calm traffic zooming through
Richland Village — let drivers know they are in a commercial zone.
The state Department of Transportation presented the draft of a traffic study
factoring in the anticipated development in Richland at Monday night's Township
Committee work session meeting.
Mayor Chuck Chiarello's vision for the Richland Village project includes a
small, quaint area with niche shops, parks and eateries. But for that to happen,
the study said, traffic on Route 40 — which spans across the nation and handles
both local and long-distance drivers — has to be calmed considerably.
Some of the most dramatic suggestions included a street network in the
village instead of large parking areas, making a 120-foot roundabout at the
Route 40 and Cedar Avenue intersection and removing the traffic light there, and
installing a sign and landscaped medians near Godstuff's Antiques on the
village's east end.
Those two points are considered the western and eastern gateways into the
Richland Village redevelopment project — and if people know they're in a growing
commercial zone, they're more willing to slow down, said Dave Cox a consultant
for the DOT.
Cox said roundabout, unlike circles, has signage and other means to slow
drivers down.
The DOT agreed to do the study without cost to the township. In about a
month, a final draft will be considered and commented on by committee members.
Interviews with about 35 residents showed that fast driving, speed limit
enforcement and reducing the limit from 45 mph to 35 mph were some of the
biggest concerns for the new village.
Cox said the roundabout would force drivers to slow to about 15 miles per
hour. “When drivers see farther down the road, they'll try to beat a traffic
signal. That promotes high speeds.”
Committeeman Peter Bylone asked about congestion during summer months, when
drivers would be heading for the shore points. Cox said the circular area would
allow drivers to move through the area smoothly and safely.
“The roundabout will tell drivers how to behave at the intersection,” said
Cox. “Statistics show they are much safer and safer for pedestrians.”
Average speeds taken during the study clocked in at about 58 miles per hour,
13 miles per hour over the limit, the draft study said. Over 50 percent of the
route users are local, statistics show.
Who would pay for all these possible changes, though, hasn't determined yet.
“We haven't thought about it,” said Cox. It's a state highway on the federal
system, and it should be eligible for federal funding.”
Chiarello asked if state aid would be available. Cox said it would, and that
cost estimates would be available soon.
“If you like parts of the plan, and you want to implement it, then put it in
the plan and fight the battles later,” Cox said. “Not all these things are as
equally doable.
Another main aspect of the plan was parking considerations. The DOT's draft
document recommended that there be a network of streets in the village instead
of the large parking lots suggested by the project developer, the Karabashain
Group.
“In their plan there's a lot of walking needed to get around,” said DOT
consultant Erika Rush. “But with ours, a lot of people with children who are
visiting on a Saturday might not want to walk as much.”
The DOT's suggestions would increase the number of spots by about 30 or 50.
There's also a need to make the route more pedestrian friendly, Rush said.
Even though there's only been one accident involving a pedestrian on Route 40,
according to statistics, it's still a suggested improvement among residents.
To fix that, the draft study suggested reducing the four-lane sections of
Route 40 to three lanes — with a center aisle for turning. That would encourage
slower driving and allow people to walk to the shops or get their mail, Rush
said.
Cox also proposed extending Smith Avenue to run parallel to Route 40,
offering an alternative if the road gets busy.
Committee members were generally pleased with the plans, with some
suggestions.
“There still needs to be something that grinds them to a halt on the eastern
gateway,” Chiarello said.
Representatives from Urban Engineers Inc. in Pennsauken
presented the township committee with an initial traffic study with option to
slow motorists in Richland Village to the benefit of local businesses and
pedestrians.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP — All aboard the Santa Express for anyone who wants to
hand-deliver a letter to Santa Claus this year.
The train, reminiscent of the locomotives of the late 1940s, runs every
Saturday from now until the end of December from Richland Village in Buena Vista
Township to the Tuckahoe train station.
It is one of many specialty trips Cape May Sea Shore Lines is offering to
boost tourism for the fading towns the train passes along the way, Mayor Chuck
Chiarello said.
This Saturday, most of the trips were booked solid on the vintage train that
holds as many as 300 people, many of them children, parents and grandparents, he
said.
“It's all about fun, family. It's about history, nostalgia, Christmas and
much, much more,” said Tony Macrie, president of Cape May Sea Shore Lines.
Cape May Sea Shore Lines has built a collection of vintage train cars from
1926 to 1955, which run on the tracks from Richland to Tuckahoe and from Cape
May Court House to Cape May.
Macrie said his company has collected several the cars that used to actually
work in New Jersey.
“We didn't just want it to be another train excursion trip, it had to be
something more,” he said.
And while the Santa Express is not a new idea, Cape May Sea Shore Lines
brings a little bit of history to the experience.
The company is also in the process of securing funding for repair work on 10
miles of track between the two lines to make it one continuous line, Macrie
said.
Chiarello said the popularity of the Santa Express shows the demand for this
type of family entertainment. And it would be a great way for tourists to travel
to Cape May without having to worry about cars, parking and gas prices, he said.
These vintage trains are not built like commuters trains to pack in as many
people as possible — they're built for comfort, Chiarello said.
“The ride is so very smooth that it's like riding in a Cadillac,” he said.
He also said it's not just about the train, but about being able to see all
the towns along the track. The train gives them a chance for revival, he said.
But Chiarello says the best part of the ride is Santa.
“He's done such a good job, it's like he's the real McCoy,” he said.
UPPER TOWNSHIP — The Santa Express will be making runs between Richland and
Tuckahoe every Saturday in December.
Children can hand-deliver their letters to Santa on this ride between
Atlantic and Cape May counties with Cape May Seashore Lines. The route goes back
and forth from the historic Tuckahoe train station to Richland in Buena Vista
Township.
On Saturday, former Absecon resident and author Michael Dutton will sign
copies of his holiday-themed novel, “Christmasville,” at the South Jersey
Railroad Museum in Tuckahoe.
Dutton, a former casino employee and graduate of the Richard Stockton College
of New Jersey, said the book is about a model train display with a yuletide
theme in which the characters come to life.
He will sign books from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the museum, 1721 Mount
Pleasant Road, just off Route 50.
BUENA VISTA TWP- A reminder of what was lost and the sacrifices that were
made.
On Saturday at Saw Mill Park, in a ceremony attended by the families of victims,
veterans and first responders; Buena Vista Township dedicated its 9/11 memorial.
"To remember the goodness of the human spirit of Americans, the firefighters,
the police, just the average people that went back in," said assemblyman Jeff
Van Drew.
Vineland resident Robert Adams lost his son Donald in the attacks. He says
having this monument so near means the world to his family.
"It’s meaningful to us. We get comfort out of that," said Adams.
Flying above the memorial was a flag biked from ground zero to raise money for
the monument by al Stebbins a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers
Local 152.
Stebbins and the union worked on the project for the last two years and today
his flag became a part of the monument after a special folding ceremony by the
National Guard.
Stebbins says while making the 148-mile bike ride, he had only one thing in
mind.
"To make the next generation remember what happened on 9/11 and instill in them
not the take freedom for granted everything comes with a cost," said Stebbins.
The gray granite stone reads always remember 9/11 and depicts the two World
Trade Center towers.
It’s placed just off Harding Highway where city officials hope it will touch the
lives of the thousands that drive and walk by.
"I think they'll stop I think people will come over and spend a few minutes here
they might not other wise, said Mayor Chuck Chiarello.
That's what Mayor William Pikolycky envisions for this tiny Pinelands borough
with a proposed extension of the Cape May Seashore Lines railroad excursion.
The borough has applied for a $550,000 tourism grant from the state
Department of Community Affairs to build a railroad station off Route 550. The
borough also is asking the state Department of Transportation for $1.1 million
for repairs to about a quarter-mile of track.
Tony Macrie, the president and general manager of Cape May Seashore Lines,
said Woodbine would be an extended stop on a current excursion between Richland
In Buena Vista Township and Tuckahoe in Upper Township.
It's a popular route, particularly with bicyclists, he said.
“We're adding a special car on every train to accommodate
bicycles,” he said. “That will open the door to bicycling.”
Visitors to a rail station in Woodbine will need one. At the moment, plans
call for the station to be built on the perimeter of the Woodbine Municipal
Airport in a patch of pine woods on the outskirts of town, more than a mile from
the center of town and the town's biggest attraction — the Sam Azeez Museum of
Woodbine Heritage. Another attraction, Belleplain State Forest, is even farther
away.
Pikolycky said people could begin their train trip in Woodbine and make stops
in Tuckahoe and Richland.
First, Macrie needs to repair about 1,400 feet of track south of the Route
550 trestle to the as-yet-unbuilt station. The tracks are in bad shape. They
have not been replaced since 1979, he said.
While Macrie's excursion to Cape May is mostly seasonal, he envisions
year-round trips on the Woodbine route to Richland.
Macrie said the train is attraction enough, especially with older passengers
who are nostalgic about train travel.
“You talk about ecotourism. It's not just about the shore,” Pikolycky said.
Mayor Baruffi of Buena Borough arranged for the
Southern Railroad Co of New Jersey to show a display of old trains at their
Buena Day celebration. Last year in Buena Vista a tourist rail line was
established for the town's revitalization project.
Photos by DONGJIN CHOI/Gannett
New Jersey
Lou Godbold of Absecon works on the Patcong Valley Model Railroad recently
at Richland Village. The
project will take two to three years, but his group plans to have at least
half of it operational by Christmas.
IF YOU
GO
The auction
will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Allen Auction Services, 231 Landing St.,
Vincentown.
The
Patcong Valley Model Railroaders are building a replication of the 1945-55
era of trains.
DONGJIN
CHOI/Gannett New Jersey
Ernest Katten of Somers Point and Michael Mosher of Millville discuss the
electrical aspects of Patcong Valley Model Railroad.
Joe Natale spent his childhood on the trains.
His grandfather worked on them, often bringing Natale's father along on the
rides.
His father, who later became a grand engineer on the Reading Railroad from
Camden to Atlantic City, would always bring Natale along, too.
Now a chemical engineer, Natale serves as president of Patcong Valley Model
Railroaders, the newest residents of Richland Village.
"I guess the love for the railroad just runs in my blood," Natale said. "I
think that's true for most of the members in our club."
Patcong Valley Model Railroaders, a group of 25 members from across South
Jersey who are interested in replicating HO-scale trains, moved last summer into
Richland Village, a section of Buena Vista Township in northwest Atlantic
County.
They have started working on the first half of an 80-by-40-foot model
replicating the 1945-55 era of trains in North Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and
western New York.
They are working to capture the transition from old steam engines to diesel
locomotives.
"We really want to stick with the East Coast and create something that people
would recognize," Natale said. "We'll have big landmarks that people know, like
the Altoona Horseshoe Curve, and we'll have local connections like a small part
dedicated to Richland Village."
The model, which will hold 12 to 15 trains, will require at least 10 people
to operate. It also will include a coal mine, docking area, freight station and
several loading areas.
The entire project will take two to three years, but the railroaders hope to
get at least half of it operational by Christmas.
The railroaders, some of whom contribute about 15 hours per week to the
project, include electricians who do wiring, artists who create scenery, and
structural engineers who build the trains and design layouts.
"Even after you get old, you still get to be a little kid," said Herb
Scheufele, secretary of the club. "You still get to play with toys. That's what
working with model trains is like."
Patcong Valley Model Railroaders will be open to the public for special
events throughout the year. It's one piece of a larger effort to revitalize a
stretch of Route 40 in Richland.
"What we are trying to do in Richland Village is pay homage to our railroad
heritage while creating a unique place that will draw people from far away,"
Mayor Chuck Chiarello said. "We don't want something that every town has; we're
creating a place where people might want to take a train ride to, visit the
stores, eat a meal, visit the park and really enjoy."
"It's a work in progress," he added. "We have a million things left to do,
but we're headed in the right direction. Our main priority is to keep the flavor
of the old times and stay true to our railroad theme."
The Cape May Seashore Lines train service is expected to return on Saturday,
August 5th. The train is scheduled to leave Tuckahoe at 10 am and Richland
at 11:30 am.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP — The Richland to Tuckahoe
train will begin Saturday service for the rest of the year this weekend after
holdups delayed the service twice before.
The train will leave Tuckahoe at 10 a.m. and will depart from Richland at 11:30
a.m.
The delays were mostly due to repairs.
“It is better to have all the problems out of the way and wait a couple of weeks
and know that we have smooth sailing ahead than to worry,” said Buena Vista
Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello.
Saw Mill Park, located near the train station, is now
open to the public, along with several antique shops and restaurants. Adult
fares are $10, children 12 and under are $5 and infants are free.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP — The Richland to Tuckahoe
train will begin Saturday service for the rest of the year this weekend after
holdups delayed the service twice before.
The train will leave Tuckahoe at 10 a.m. and will depart from Richland at 11:30
a.m.
The delays were mostly due to repairs.
“It is better to have all the problems out of the way and wait a couple of weeks
and know that we have smooth sailing ahead then to worry,” said Buena Vista
Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello.
Saw Mill Park, located near the train station, is now
open to the public, along with several antique shops and restaurants. Adult
fares are $10, children 12 and under are $5 and infants are free.
The Township Committee has accepted
Pinelands Commission amendments to the Richland Village revitalization project.
The amendments are designed to protect land during the redevelopment process.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP — The Planning Board and Township Council each approved
revised versions of the Richland Village redevelopment plan Monday night after
some changes were made by the Pinelands Commission.
Two required public hearings were also held as part of the voting. More than a
dozen people attended the first hearing, but no one made any comments on the
plans during the second meeting. In past cases, most comments about the project
have been supportive, although there are a number of people who have
persistently opposed any type of development in the area.
Mayor Chuck Chiarello said the township has reviewed the commission's
recommendations.
“We're in support of them,” he said, noting that they shouldn't affect any
businesses the township hoped to attract.
The plans will now be forwarded to a Pinelands Commission subcommittee and
eventually to the commissioner. They could be approved by August, Chiarello
said, and another public hearing will be held.
Two main suggestions from the Pineland Commission involved removing 10 acres
from a 54-acre lot the township owns because of an overlap with wetlands,
according to Melissa Baker, the senior project manager from the Karabashian
Planning Group.
Also affected are any developed areas less than 10 acres, which would have to
conform to much more strict zoning regulations.
“That's the township and Pineland's way of preventing piecemeal properties being
developed,” she said.
During the past few months, more than $2 million in grants have been collected
for the Richland redevelopment project. Streetlights and a new sidewalk also
have been constructed in the heart of the area, which will have a railroad
theme.
Construction began this week for the Patcong model railroad building, which is
in need of renovations that total about $150,000, Chiarello said. And next
month, Saw Mill Park will open, which features a caboose and locomotive-themed
playground.
The Seashore train line will also begin running to Tuckahoe each Saturday
beginning July 22 until the end of the year.
The Patcong Valley Model Railroaders moved to Richland Village last July.
The entire model, which will hold 12 to 15 trains will require at least 10
people to operate. The group hopes to get at least half of the model
operational by Christmastime.
Buena Vista Camping World donated a 75-year old caboose to the Buena Vista
Township new Saw Mill Park located on Route 54. Battelini Towing of
Landisville moved the caboose from the Camping World to the Park free of charge.
There was a ribbon cutting ceremony held on Monday, March 20 in Richland at
the Richland Homemade Ice Cream and Deli. Mayor Chuck Chiarello was
present at the event. Lunches will include soups, salads, chicken wings,
french fries, mozzarella sticks, subs, steaks, cheesesteaks, hamburgers and hot
dogs, plus a wide variety of cold cuts. The Lukoil gasoline station has
been renovated and scheduled to reopen on March 21st.
— The second public hearing for the Richland redevelopment plans attracted
about half the people from the first meeting, but criticism was still high
Monday night.
About 60 people listened as several residents expressed concerns about eminent
domain, increasing taxes and the fragile environment.
Township Council members said they believe the plans could create millions in
ratables and make the village an attraction for people across the region. They
voted unanimously to introduce the plans for another public hearing on March 13.
Almost every speaker mentioned what would happen a decade from now, since the
Karabashian planning group said redevelopment could last 30 years.
Andrea Budro said she lives in the redevelopment area and is worried that her
house could be taken by the local government.
“I just moved in, and now I don't know if I should unpack my garage or get out
of here,” she said. “And even if you say you're not going to take it, what about
the next administration?”
The Township Committee has mentioned in the past it has no intention of taking
any private land for the project, but it has no control over what happens in the
future.
“A lot of things can change in 30 years,” said Committeeman Peter Bylone.
Robert Lavari worried about cheating residents out of tax dollars. He crunched
quick figures on a legal pad before he spoke, and mentioned the rising costs of
education in the township and the $400,000 bond floated for the village. The
township owns 68 acres of the redevelopment land, which it doesn't collect taxes
for.
Mayor Chuck Chiarello acknowledged that the plan could pose a loss in taxes for
a short period of time, but he hopes the long-term plan could bring in millions
in tax ratables that would help lower school taxes. “We can sit here and pray
the state gives us more money from heaven — but it won't,” Chiarello said.
“There's no special-needs funding coming in, and the state is practically
bankrupt.”
Three residents expressed complete trust in the administration's plan.
“We're worried about tomorrow, about next year, but we might not even be here
next year,” Bertha Guilford said.
Chiarello said the next two to three months will be crucial. If the Township
Committee approves the plans, they will then be sent for Pinelands approval.
The Township Committee tonight will hold its final public hearing on the
Richland Village redevelopment project. The public will have the
opportunity to hear the latest details about the railroad-themed plan to
transform Richland.
Photos by LAWRENCE HAJNA/Courier-Post
Richland's general store still dispenses items such as coal, buckshot,
animal feed, honey and hardware.
Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello envisions this railroad line carrying
people from Richland to Cape May.
LAWRENCE HAJNA/Courier-Post
Gary Brookland, owner of the Richland General Store, has reservations
about the redevelopment plan in Buena Vista.
Richland's new train station is located near the town's old feed mill,
which is to be saved and incorporated into the redevelopment plan.
There's little reason for anyone to stop in Richland.
In fact, most South Jersey residents probably don't even realize the place
exists.
Born of railroads more than a century ago, the little Atlantic County village
is located west of Mays Landing on U.S. Route 40, a highly traveled back route
to Atlantic City and Ocean City.
With its old-fashioned feed mill that once unloaded trainloads of grain for
chicken farmers and a general store that still dispenses coal, buckshot and
animal feed along with honey, candy sticks and hardware, Richland could have
been plucked straight from rural Iowa.
Quaint, yes, but hardly reason enough to stop and spend a few bucks.
Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello has big plans for Richland, envisioning a
major shopping and office complex patterned after a Victorian-era railroad to be
built along a rail line between Winslow and Cape May.
The village would have artisans like a blacksmith or leather worker, arts and
craft stores, and restaurants. It would be complemented by a 3,000-square-foot
indoor model railroad display.
"The core is a village of shops, essentially a Peddler's Village or a
Smithville," Chiarello said, referring to the popular 18th-century-themed
shopping complexes located respectively in Bucks County, Pa., and Galloway.
If so, it would be Peddler's Village in the Pines.
Plans picked up steam when residents packed a recent planning board meeting
to learn about a redevelopment zone proposed to spur the project.
The zone designation -- believed to be the first for an area designated as a
village in the Pinelands National Reserve -- is dividing Richland's population
of about 1,500.
There are those who want to see their township generate some economic growth
and those who want Richland to remain what it is -- a sleepy village on the edge
of the Pinelands.
Gary and Tracey Brookland, who recently invested their life savings to
purchase the landmark Richland General Store across from the project site, have
misgivings.
They fear the project could snowball, bringing the same unsightly sprawl that
has already sullied much of South Jersey's landscape.
"It's a Pinelands community. I thought they were going to kind of keep it
like the lifestyle of the Pinelands," said Gary Brookland, 42. "That's why I
came here."
While she also harbors uncertainties, Angela Biscoglio, owner of Little
Frankie's Italian-American Deli across the street, said she believes commercial
taxes the project generates could help control rising residential property
taxes.
"It'll put Richland on the map, and I hope it will be good for business
also," said Biscoglio, 44, noting that sandwich sales picked up last fall with
the launch of a scenic rail line between Richland and Tuckahoe, 15 miles away.
The success of Chiarello's plan rides on the railroad, in particular
expanding it into Cape May.
So far, the Richland-Tuckahoe excursion, operated by the Cape May Seashore
Lines, has drawn some 3,500 people in three months of operation, Chiarello said.
It ran only on Saturdays and resumes service in March.
He wants to extend the service to Cold Spring Village, a restored
19th-century village in Cape May where Cape May Seashore Lines operates another
tour route. But some 10 miles of track through Woodbine would require costly
repairs.
At some point, the line could be extended to a connection in Winslow with the
Atlantic City commuter rail line, Chiarello said. This could open the
possibility of tourists from all over the region taking the train to avoid Cape
May's notoriously bad summer traffic, he said.
While Chiarello brims with confidence that the project will happen, it still
needs a developer to take it on. It also needs state Pinelands Commission
approval.
The redevelopment zone designation gives municipalities more control over the
direction projects take and the naming of developers.
Zones have been established in Pinelands towns and rural development areas
but not in the national reserve's 51 designated villages -- places such as
Chatsworth, Vincentown, Indian Mills, Blue Anchor and New Lisbon -- that are
thought to have special character.
The Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan does not preclude redevelopment
zones in villages, but it does require that development be compatible with their
existing character, Pinelands Commission spokesman Paul Leakan said.
"One of the main items that the commission will look at is the overall scale
of the proposal and the types of uses being proposed and whether they are
consistent with the Pineland village zone," he said.
While the Pinelands Preservation Alliance has not taken a formal position,
Carleton Montgomery, the group's director, worries this could set a precedent
for projects in more ecologically sensitive parts of the Pinelands.
But Chiarello hopes the project will lead to broader community revitalization
that taps into the region's tourism potential.
"The Pinelands plan is not devoid of economic activity," he said. "We're not
trying to overrun it and we couldn't overrun it with the rules that are in
place. The one thing the Pinelands owes a town like us is the ability to
survive."
With an artist's rendering in the foreground, Buena Vista Township Mayor
Chuck Chiarello, far right, answers questions Thursday after the presentation
of plans for Richland Village to residents who packed a Planning Board forum
at the township municipal building.
Lasndscape gardener Mark Demitroff, left, listens to Thursday's presentation
as he waits for his turn to speak. Another public meeting will be held Feb. 6.
— The conceptual plans for the proposed Richland Village were met with both
fierce questioning and adamant support at the project's first public hearing.
The Planning Board meeting was packed with more than 110 residents who came to
see the artists' renderings of the project and hear the planning group's
presentation. The board later approved a recommendation to send the plans to
Township Committee.
Yet heated comments were made when it came time for the public to ask questions
and make statements to the board. More than a dozen people came up to the
microphone in the center of the room to ask about sewage plans, concerns about
nearby wetlands and praise the idea as forward-thinking.
Some strongly challenged Mayor Chuck Chiarello, who answered most of the
questions, while others directed their comments to people who spoke before them.
Representatives from the Karabashian planning group and Chiarello stressed that
there are no hard figures for how many businesses will be built, how they will
utilize water and sewer and what the economic impact could be for the area.
“Developers will come in and those determinations will be made on a case-by-case
basis for each business,” Chiarello said.
One of the largest concerns was for the nearby wetlands. Resident Mark Demitroff
read from a regional study that said urbanization was threatening water in the
area.
“I just hope the township looks very hard at this angle before they move
forward,” he said.
Also on most of the residents' minds was if the 163-acre project could feasibly
bring in as many businesses as the local government is hoping for.
The harshest criticism came from resident Sandra Weber, who questions how many
ratables the village could actually bring in.
“We're still unsure if anyone will even come to these antique and quilt shops on
their way to Atlantic City, and you're managing to piss people off in the
meantime,” she said. “If you're going to do something, do it right.”
Both critical and positive comments drew applause from the audience throughout
the public session.
Kate Bjorklund, who owns Goodstuff's Antiques in Richland, countered Weber's
comments with her own experiences.
“Everyone told me I was crazy when I said I was going to open a shop in
Richland,” she said. “And it's been hard at times. But people do come and like
the area, and making more shops will surely attract more people.”
Some residents said the plans call for a glorified strip mall adorned with a
Victorian theme.
But Chiarello stressed that the businesses that move into the area will follow a
certain plan, from what paint a business uses to how they secure the property.
“We won't have a purple business here and another color there,” he said. “There
will be a uniform appeal.”
The end of the public hearing session featured a force of people who said that
they should be glad the area is finally considering improvement.
“I saw Richland decline from the 1970s,” said resident Dolores Comparri, “and
that happened because we lacked forward-thinkers like we have right now. This is
a matter of pride for where you live.”
Our area has much to be proud of: the proposed
motorsports park and shopping center in Millville, Richland Village in Buena
Vista Township, and the commercial and residential growth in Vineland.
Richland Village is planning to renovate an historic feed mill and purchase
an old church. The feed mill will be repainted a much lighter color and
will be lit up at night. Once renovated, it will house several new shops
geared to the tourist trade.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP-It's like fitting the final piece of a
year-and-a-half-long puzzle.
Since last summer, the township has acquired six parcels of land that will be
used for the main stretch of the Richland redevelopment project. The final piece
was purchased Monday.
The land ensures that the central 16 acres of Richland Village will have a
streamlined railroad theme similar to small tourist areas such as Smithville in
Galloway Township.
The Buena Vista Township paid about $275,000 for the nearly 2-acre parcel that
borders the southeast corner of the railroad and Route 40 intersection. Included
is a post office, feed mill, antique store, empty house and deli on the
premises, township Administrator Ron Trebing said.
"Some of it will be refurbished," Trebing said. "It all depends on the money we
get."
Chairello said the post office and feed mill will definitely remain. The rest
may stay or go, depending on final schematics.
The township hopes the final plans for Richland Village will be complete by
early next year, after normal issues relating to Pinelands restrictions, such as
water runoff, are resolved.
Richland's redevelopment is Buena Vista Township's most ambitious project in
decades. Officials hope the main stretch, which is on Route 40 between Cedar and
Greenbriar avenues, will attract commercial businesses including restaurants,
shops and tourist attractions that could improve the amount of economic ratables
in the area.
The township has more than $7 million in revenue, according to the Census
Bureau.
"We are trying to get the 25,000 people a day who drive down Route 40 to stop
and stay a while," Chiarello said.
The area is also relying heavily on the success of the resurrected Cape May
Seashore Line, which currently runs from Tuckahoe in Cape May County to
Richland.
Rail line owner Tony Macrie hopes the train will link up with NJ Transit's
Atlantic City Line.
Chiarello said the project has received $2 million in grants so far, and he
hopes to receive another $1 million in the next year.
The land was purchased from Ed Condon, who does not live in the township and did
not return two messages for this article.
Buena Vista Township purchased a key property in the
redevelopment plan for historic Richland Village. This was the final piece
of property necessary to start the next phase of Richland's transformation plan.
The Cape May Seashore Lines opened train service between Richland and
Tuckahoe. The train runs on Saturdays through December 17. Check out
the special train excursions such as the Fall Foliage Tours, Santa Express Tours
and An Afternoon Wine Expreience.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP-Two recent grants have helped fund redevelopment
projects in the township's Richland area.
Both grants, totaling about $250,000, were received separately from the New
Jersey Department of Transportation.
A $100,000 "centers of place" grant will go toward extending the streetscape
project West past the Cape May Seashore Line railroad tracks and East past
Greenbriar Avenue. The extensions will last for as long as the money permits,
said Mayor Chuck Chiarello.
"It'll go toward the street lighting, trash receptacles and other new things
people have begun to see in the area," he said Monday. "It'll also be for those
things some people don't commonly think about - like sewage lines and curbs."
The $3 million redevelopment project will give the area an economic boost by
hopefully making Richland a southern New Jersey destination. Plans include
running and extending the revitalized Cape May Seashore Line, and bringing shops
and restaurants into the area. About 90 percent of the township has Pinelands
restrictions, which prohibit development to protect the environment.
Chiarello said he initially asked for around $250,000 from the "centers of
place" grant. "We're still enthusiastic about the funds," he said. "It all
helps."
The township also recently received $150,000 in state road aid from the DOT for
the area between Route 40 and old Landis Road.
In September, the township received $500,000 from the Casino Reinvestment
Development Authority toward the project.
About $225,000 is going toward the construction of a passenger platform and
development of the train station; $175,000 will go toward laying tracks to allow
trains to pass those stopped at the station; and the rest will go toward
converting a factory into a new home for the Patcong Valley Society of Model
Railroaders, which used to be in Egg Harbor Township.
Train pulls into Richland Train station in Buena Vista Twp.
Danny Perez Jr. age 3 and Haley Elias age 6 both from Dorthy look out the
window of the train while waiting to depart from Richland Station.
Train conductor Bill Heller checks the time as people wait to aboard the train
at the Richland train station in Buena Vista Twp.
Staff Photos by Anthony Smedile
Jennifer Perez andHaley Elias age 6 both
from Dorthy look out the window of the train while waiting to depart from
Richland Station. This is the first day for public service for the train from
Richland to Tuckahoe.
Ralph Quidone III is a self-proclaimed expert in locomotives.
He said this while he mashed his forehead against the train window, watching
chestnut-colored horses whiz by. Ralph is 9.
"This train rules," he said, referring to the Cape May Seashore Line, which has
just resurrected a small section after 24 years of dormancy. "I want it to go
further, so we can ride the Cape May-Lewes Ferry."
The other part of "we" is his father, Buena Vista resident Ralph Quidone Jr.,
who said his son is the only child he knows that searches for maps in toy
stores.
"We'll end up between routes 49 and 50, at county road 557," Ralph III said. For
any nonexperts, that's the Tuckahoe Train Station.
A passenger car carrying people like the Quidones hasn't lumbered down this
15-mile stretch of track between Richland in Atlantic County and Tuckahoe in
Cape May County since the Pennsylvania Railroad Seashore Line closed in 1981.
Many of the 98 passengers on board Saturday's 11 a.m. train remember the line as
quick access to Philadelphia and the shore points.
Now, people like Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello are trying to resurrect the
train for both its convenience and economic possibilities.
But to pull this railroad out of extinction, two things must happen. First is
developing some areas around the stations. Second, as Ralph III hopes, is to
extend the train's service deep into Cape May and possibly link it to NJ
Transit's Atlantic City Line. The latter would cost about $10 million, according
to rail line owner Tony Macrie, for repairs to the wooden planks that support
the metal rails.
Walking through the train during its 30-mile round trip, most children were
staring out the windows as adults became acquainted in the face-to-face seats.
Lynda Patrick, 29, owns Tea by the Sea in Cape May. She said the line would
match up nicely with the shops in Cape May and the new Atlantic Cape Community
College extension.
"I'd be fine with having rail lines of people dropped off close to the shop,"
she said.
Business incentives like these are also sparking development in the Richland
area. Chiarello is planning for new restaurants and shops to be built that would
make the area not only an old-country-themed destination but would also bring
more tax ratables to the area.
But for some passengers, business and economics didn't matter compared with the
nostalgia.
Grace Garrity, of Petersburg, Upper Township, stood by the tracks at Tuckahoe.
Her father used to operate the train tower at a time when the area was full of
railroad workers.
"It's amazing to see this line running again, even in part," she said. "It's a
thrill for those of us who can remember that time."
According to Macrie, anyone who rode the Pennsylvania Seashore Line before it
closed probably sat in one of the two cars used Saturday. He conducted the
train, settling the speed in at 35 mph and pulling the horn with his greasy
right hand.
"We gave this up for a less perfect form of transport, the car," he said. "Now
people don't like to drive anymore. Gas, insurance prices are too high. We're
getting back on track again."
The Richland-to-Tuckahoe excursion will begin Oct. 17 with three round-trip
rides every Saturday through Dec. 17. The train departs Tuckahoe at 10 a.m., 1
p.m. and 4 p.m. It departs Richland at 11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
A round-trip ticket is $10 for adults and $5 for children. For more
information, call Cape May Seashore Lines at 609-884-2675.
-Passenger-rail service will return to Tuckahoe this month for the first time
in a generation when Cape May Seashore Lines launches a new tourist attraction.
Trains will ferry passengers to and from Richland every Saturday beginning
Oct. 15.
Cape May Seashore Lines already has a tourist line from Cape May Court House
to Cape May. The new Saturday excursions will boast themes such as the Santa
Express or wine tasting, Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.
"We're planning all sorts of wonderful trips," Chiarello said.
Cape May Seashore Lines will give public officials a sneak peek of the
15-mile-long excursion today.
Tuckahoe is a former railroad town. But the only rail cars it sees now carry
West Virginia coal to the B.L. England power plant in Beesleys Point.
The Upper Township Committee spent $250,000 in labor and materials to
painstakingly restore Tuckahoe's original 1894 train station. The township's
Historical Society and local Eagle Scouts spent countless hours restoring
outbuildings and landscaping the sprawling grounds.
This might have seemed like a boondoggle at the time given that no trains
ever stopped at this ghost junction. But the decision to save and restore the
station was a wise one, Mayor Richard Palombo said.
"It's always been our hope to have that rail service restored. It's been 25
years now," Palombo said of the last train service through this old river town.
"I think Tuckahoe is very comfortable keeping the past history in the village."
Merchants in both Richland and Tuckahoe will benefit from the restored train
service, Chiarello said.
"It's a work in progress," Chiarello said. "It's going to get better as
people find out about it. I think it's going to be a fantastic boon. Something
new and different in the region."
Chiarello said having rail service in Richland will lend support for the rail
company's bid to get state or federal money to repair the 15 miles of track
between Woodbine and Cape May Court House. If repairs were made, passengers
conceivably could take the train to Cape May.
"Most rail lines around the country are subsidized," Chiarello said. "If it
gets people off the highways, we're paying for the highways, too. I look at it
as a public-private partnership that helps everybody."
Palombo said the rail line could be used to evacuate Cape May County
residents who have no other means of transportation before an emergency such as
a hurricane.
The Cape May Seashore Line's arrival in Richland will be next weekend with a
ribbon-cutting ceremony. Service between Richland Village and Tuckahoe
will begin on Saturdays through December 17th.
A $500,000 grant from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority will help
the township keep its railroad-themed redevelopment of its Richland Village
section on track, Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.
Township officials have been lobbying for funds for more than a year to
redevelop the several-mile-long section along Route 40 between Mizpah and Buena
that once served as one of the area's commercial centers.
The $3 million project, also funded by the township and other state agencies,
aims to spark commercial development with a railroad-themed makeover and restore
tourist passenger train service in the area.
About 90 percent of the township is covered by Pinelands development
restrictions to protect environmentally sensitive woodlands and aquifers,
Chiarello said.
The Richland Village project, which will eventually include a train station,
the area's largest model railroad, shops and restaurants, offers a unique
opportunity to stimulate growth, he said.
"We are in an area that is protected and you're not going to have a lot of
extensive development," Chiarello said. "That's why the Richland Village project
offers us some hope of a rare chance that could help the township out
financially."
About $225,000 of the CRDA grant, which was approved Tuesday, will go toward
the construction of a 250- to 350-foot passenger platform and development of the
Richland Village train station with new lighting, benches, nearby sidewalks and
parking, Chiarello said.
Another $175,000 of the grant will go toward laying tracks known as siding,
Chiarello said. These tracks allow trains to pass while others are stopped at
the station.
The remainder of the money will finance improvements to a new home for the
Patcong Valley Society of Model Railroaders, reputed to be Atlantic County's
largest HO-scale model railroad.
The township is working to convert a 3,000-square-foot former clothing
factory into a new facility for the model railroad, which was located in Egg
Harbor Township, Chiarello said.
"We're trying to bring some life back to Richland," Chiarello said.
On Oct. 15, passenger train service is slated to return to Richland Village
for the first time in decades.
Vintage circa-1940s trains from the Cape May Seashore Lines railroad will
provide three Saturday round trips between Richland Village and Tuckahoe, about
15 miles away.
"It's nostalgia," said Cape May Seashore Lines President Tony Macrie. "We're
bringing back what once was."
Macrie said it will be the first time since Sept. 28, 1935, when the
Pennsylvania Seashore Line discontinued local service, that passengers will be
able to board a train in Richland.
Cape May Seashore Lines already operates a more-than-12-mile stretch between
Cape May Court House and Cape May.
"This is an opportunity not just for the railroad from an expansion point of
view, I think it's a great opportunity for the township," said Macrie, who
believes Richland may become a tourist destination in its own right.
Chiarello said he hopes to eventually see rail service from Richland Village
all the way to Cape May. But he said that would require a $3 million to $7
million retrofit of the aging tracks between Cape May Court House and Woodbine
to make them suitable for passenger service.
"Even tourists don't want to travel 5 miles per hour," Chiarello said.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority will give $5 million to the city
to help renovate a community center that once housed black veterans in the
1920s.
The agency's board gave final approval Tuesday to a $5 million grant to go
toward expansion and renovation of the Westside All Wars Memorial Building on
Adriatic Avenue. City officials plan to add almost 10,000 square feet to the
building, adding extra ballroom and office space as well as new parking and
landscaping.
While it still hosts a veterans' group, it's primarily used for community
events, such as weddings and funerals. The renovated building also will contain
historical exhibits of the city's black heritage. In all, the project will cost
$19.4 million, and the rest of the money will come from Atlantic City bond
issues, according to the CRDA.
Initial CRDA paperwork, including that at a public hearing on Monday, referred
to the $5 million as a loan. However, what was approved Tuesday was a grant, not
a loan, said Susan Ney, the agency's assistant deputy director of project
development. The word loan only appeared because of an error in the city's
initial filing, she said.
The grant was one of several awarded by the CRDA as part of a full agenda
Tuesday. Other projects approved include:
Egg Harbor City will receive $1.95 million for a development project
focusing on its downtown. City officials said Egg Harbor City has been in a
period of economic distress, but the project will help it attract new businesses
to its downtown.
Egg Harbor Township was awarded a $3 million grant as it looks to improve
the Black Horse Pike corridor leading into Atlantic City. The township's plan is
to acquire and demolish 13 motel businesses and five commercial properties in
the area and redevelop the land. Besides the aesthetic reasons, Township
Committeeman John Risley said the work will help alleviate crime problems that
have sprung up in that area.
Railroad work in the Richland Village section of Buena Vista Township got a
$500,000 boost from the CRDA. The $3 million project, also funded by the
township and other state agencies, will reestablish the tourist passenger rail
service in the area.
Cape May County received preliminary approval for a $1 million grant to help
pay for an upgrade to the county's zoo. The about $7 million project will expand
the zoo's parking and add a gift shop, a snack bar and a 300-seat amphitheater.
The project still will require a public hearing before the CRDA board can give
its final approval to the grant.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority is giving
Buena Vista Township a $500,000 grant for the ongoing efforts to redevelop the
Richland Village. On Tuesday, the CRDA's board unanimously voted grant
$500,000.
The Casino Reinvestment Development
Authority held a public hearing about a grant on Monday at the municipal
building. The township could receive a $750,000 grant from the CRDA.
BUENA VISTA -- The Township Committee has commissioned a full-scale study of
Richland Village in hopes of learning better ways it can develop the area as a
business district and tourist magnet.
The Planning Board last month declared the historic area along Route 40 as an
area in need of redevelopment.
"The Richland Village redevelopment project has been going on for the past 18
months," Mayor Chuck Chiarello said. "We are undertaking a study for a look-see
of what can be done with Richland Village."
The municipality already has hired Karabashian-Eddington Planning Group of
Atlantic City to study and prepare a feasibility report about a plan to
redevelop the Richland Village area. No timetable for the report was announced.
Meanwhile, progress continues at a slow, steady pace on several fronts as
Buena Vista works to make the area more attractive to shoppers and tourists, who
can pump spending cash into the coffers of local merchants:
Tony Macrie, president and owner of the Cape May Seashore Line, expects
limited weekend service between Richland and Tuckahoe to begin sometime in
October.
"Someday soon, we hope to have the railroad tracks redone so we can have
passenger service all the way down to Cape May and Winslow Junction," Macrie
said. 'But, in order to do this, at least 10 miles of track past Tuckahoe
between Woodbine and Cape May Court House will have to be repaired because of
deteriorating railroad ties."
He said the Rail Passengers Association, a statewide lobbying group dedicated
to railroad passenger service, will meet Oct. 8 in a train car on the tracks in
Richland.
Sidewalks on both sides of Route 40, along with new street lighting, should
be completed within the next month, Chiarello said.
Bids will be accepted next month for work on a municipal parking lot next to
Richland General Store and a proposed 1.8-acre park between Fir and Greenbriar
avenues.
Goodstuff's is located on Route 40, also known as Harding
Highway, in Richland. The antique shop operates in an old garment factory. Kate
Bjorklund, owner of the antique store Goodstuff's, is seen reflected in a mirror
that is for sale in her Richland shop. In addition to antique furniture,
Goodstuff's features collectible toys, including some from the 1960s such as a
MAD magazine game, a wagon, spinning top and more.
BUENA VISTA -- Every day is a trip down memory lane for Kate Bjorklund.
She owns Goodstuff's, an antiques store along Route 40 in Richland that's
crammed with 6,000 square feet of vintage, classic and century-old furniture
along with an eclectic mix of turn-of-the-century women's shoes, paintings,
posters, jewelry, dishes and glossy black-and-white photos, to name a few of the
offerings.
And if you don't see what you're searching for, Bjorklund said, there's an
excellent chance she can find it for you.
To give her store an old-fashioned feel, Bjorklund continuously plays light
melodies and lively swing music from the 1930s and '40s.
"I want my customers to feel relaxed and take all the time they want to
browse," said Bjorklund.
Breathing down someone's neck to make a sale is definitely not her style, she
added.
Bjorklund said her customers enjoy the background music because it takes them
back to a time when they were younger and allows them to reminisce.
Janice Brown of Mays Landing, who often shops at Goodstuff's with husband
John, said she loves to browse in the store.
"Kate's got a lot of very interesting stuff," Brown said. "It's pretty cool
-- she's got great taste, so we love coming here."
An aging interest
Bjorklund, who grew up in Millville, became interested in antiques as a child
when she used to sit on some woven, wooden chairs on the front porch of her
grandmother's home in Drexel Hill, Pa.
"As a kid, people thought I was a bit odd since I liked old things," said
Bjorklund, 52. "I don't know where this interest came from. All I can tell you
is that it continued to grow, and now I'm doing what I love most -- buying and
dealing in antiques."
After her grandmother's death, Bjorklund inherited those sturdy wooden
chairs, which she still has at home.
"These chairs are incredible," Bjorklund explained. "They're constructed of
hickory wood woven into the back and seat of each chair. They were made in the
1880s."
Durable through time
Bjorklund said there are four kinds of furniture -- antique, classic, vintage
and retro.
"Anything truly antique is generally at least a century old, while classic
furniture never goes out of style," she said. "Vintage is considered to be from
the 1930s and 1940s. And retro, which is also known as mid century, is
classified as being from the 1950s and 1960s."
Bjorklund said the goods in her store are obtained mostly at estate sales and
from customers who are moving.
"If you buy one of my solid cherry tables, they sell for $240, but you're
getting quality that you can't get when you buy something in a discount store,"
Bjorklund said. "A lot of modern furniture is made of pressed wood -- the
workmanship and durability just isn't there."
Awaiting renovation
Before 1998, when Bjorklund bought a one-story cinderblock garment factory
building here and turned it into an antique shop, she tried her hand at "pretty
much anything and everything."
"I've done a lot of management and retail sales," she said.
"I've been in real estate in the Millville area, sold new Chevrolet cars, was
an advertising sales representative for a now-defunct newspaper in
Pleasantville, rehabilitated old houses with my younger brother, and I even had
a cleaning service franchise."
Although she loves her work, Bjorklund said the long hours spent running the
store and buying items for it leave her little personal time to paint landscapes
with watercolors -- a hobby she sometimes misses.
During the past few months, Bjorklund has expanded her business to include
painted furniture and new home decor accessories such as vases, ironware,
sconces and kitchen items.
She said she's excited about the township's ongoing Richland Village historic
renovation project, which aims to rejuvenate Richland and make it a tourist
destination.
"I'm very excited about it," Bjorklund said last week, looking out her front
window to watch workmen installing new brick facade walkway across the street as
part of the revitalization project. "In fact, I really think it will bring some
badly needed business to Richland."
BUENA VISTA -- The township is applying for up to $600,000 in grant money to
help fund the ongoing Richland Village restoration project.
The Township Committee last week voted to seek the funds, which are
administered through the state's Transportation Enhancement Program.
If received, the money would be used to continue building sidewalks along
Route 40 in Richland and to construct two small bus stations.
One bus station would be located in front of the municipal parking lot that's
soon to be built adjacent to Richland General Store. The other would be built
somewhere across the street along Route 40, but that location hasn't been firmed
up yet, Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.
Stephen E. Lingle of Triad Associates, the grant-writing firm hired by the
township to help it obtain funds for turning Richland into a tourist
destination, said a railroad platform for train service and a visitors center to
be housed in the Patcong Valley Model Railroad exhibit building also are needed.
Chiarello said the township has previously applied for more than $1 million
in grants for Richland Village. The project aims to bring tourists and shoppers
to Richland, a once-bustling, but now sleepy part of the township.
He said tourist rail service will be added on Saturdays and Sundays sometime
this fall, connecting Richland and Tuckahoe.
BUENA VISTA -- It was standing room only at Thursday night's special Planning
Board meeting as residents came to hear an update on the Richland Village
redevelopment project.
As the packed meeting in the municipal building room courtroom listened
intently,
Mayor Chuck Chiarello told the crowd that a six-block area along Route 40
between the railroad tracks and Fir Avenue is going to be a destination -- not a
pit stop -- with a tourist railroad service provided by Cape May Seashore Line
as early as this fall.
He said plans are under way to attract more businesses such as flower shops,
a bakery and gift stores -- shops that pedestrians can walk to without using
their cars.
Chiarello also announced that Buena Vista officials are considering a large
overhead archway over Route 40 that would say "Welcome to Richland." It would
not only catch a motorist's eye, but get that driver to slow down and see what
Richland Village has to offer, he said.
He said the village's theme will have a "railroad-style flair" with possibly
a turn-of-the-20th-century motif, but much was to be worked out along those
lines.
The board unanimously passed a resolution that formally declares Richland
Village an area in need of redevelopment. That's step is needed to help the
township qualify for state aid or other assistance. The measure will be
presented to the Township Committee for further consideration.
Melissa Hauck-Baker, a planner for a firm hired by the township to help with
the redevelopment plan, said Richland Village should have no problem getting
more state money because it met much of the criteria stipulated by the N.J.
Office of Smart Growth, which helps fund such projects.
Kate Bjorklund, who owns the Goodstuff's antiques shop along the
redevelopment corridor, said she thought what Chiarello had been doing to drum
up support for the project was "incredible."
Mark Stullenburger, a Planning Board member who lives in Richland, said he
thought the redevelopment would have great success.
Kurt Rendart, who lives off Main Avenue, suggested that another, bigger
parking lot for tour buses be built.
Chiarello said he thought Rendart's idea was a good one and said he'd
seriously consider it.
Andrea Gonzalez, of Gambale Construction in Clementon,
digs around a newly formed sidewalk in Richland.
Plans are moving ahead to bring a tourist rail line to Richland, but
officials say it will probably take two years to have regular service. Mayor
Chuck Chiarello said some limited rail service provided by Cape May Seashore
Line, between Richland and Tuckahoe, could start as early as this fall.
Within the next month, decorative railroad-style lights, benches, curbs and
trash receptacles will be at each corner of Route 40 from the railroad tracks to
Greenbriar Avenue.
The former Brassie's Place restaurant between Main and Fir avenues, which
closed last year, is undergoing renovation and has been renamed A.J.'s Pub. It
could open within the next few months.
Giacomo's, an Italian restaurant at Greenbriar Avenue that closed in
December, was renamed The Legacy. It's currently undergoing renovations and
could be ready for business later this year.
Little Frankie's Italian Deli, formerly known as The Crossings Delicatessen,
opened two months ago.
Uncle Mike's Tavern and Pizzeria at Cedar Avenue, rechristened Memories
Lounge, has reopened as a nightclub featuring live doo-wop music.
The township has purchased two of three homes next to Memories and is in the
process of buying the third one, Chiarello said. "This area is being looked at
to establish shops and businesses that will be a part of Richland Village," he
said.
A new curb turnout to accommodate a bus stop has been added in front of a
new parking lot next to Richland General Store.
A one-story cinderblock building a block away at Fir Avenue that is owned by
the township will become the new headquarters and meeting place of Patcong
Valley Railroad, a group of model railroad buffs who will put on public
displays. The township plans to award a bid package July 11 for renovations to
the 3,000-square-foot building that will also house a small visitors' center.
Club members will help with renovations.
Source: Buena Vista officials
Staff photo/Barbara Errickson
New pavers, curbing and sidewalks are installed along
Harding Highway near the Richland General Store in Richland.
BUENA VISTA -- The Richland Village redevelopment project is moving along
slowly but surely, and residents will have a chance this week to offer their
suggestions about what should happen next.
A three-quarter-mile stretch of the Route 40 corridor, from Cedar to
Llewellyn avenues, is gradually coming into focus. Concrete sidewalks dyed to
resemble red bricks are being installed on both sides of the highway from the
railroad tracks to Greenbriar Avenue.
And work is about to start for a yet-to-be-named 1.7-acre park that was the
site of a sawmill, but now lies vacant between Greenbriar and Fir avenues.
Richland was a vibrant business center in the middle of a thriving
agricultural area at the dawn of the 20th century, with plenty of commuter and
freight train service. Today, by comparison, it's a quiet hamlet.
But Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello and other township officials have a
vision to return Richland to what it once was by bringing in a new railroad
tourist line, rail depot, quaint shops, restaurants, model railroad display and
parking lot.
The public has generally greeted the effort with optimism.
Juan Torres, a general building contractor from Newtonville who was recently
buying electrical supplies at Richland General Store, said he's pleased with
news of the project's steady progress.
"I think it would be cool for the area," said Torres, 33. "It's good to see
the sidewalks going in. There's hardly any in town, and I think it's going to
increase pedestrian traffic quite a bit because people are going to have a safer
place to walk without having to worry so much about oncoming traffic as they do
now."
Torres said he'd enjoy living in the area even more once most of Richland
Village nears completion, which township officials believe could happen as soon
as 2007.
Calling it a "work in progress," Chiarello said the project is one-third of
the way to where he hopes it'll be in two years.
"We're also intending to have an Urban Enterprise Zone established in Buena
Vista," he said. "It would allow some of the sales tax money collected in
Richland and the surrounding area to be re-invested in the community."
Township Administrator Ronald Trebing said the municipality is flexible when
it comes to adding other attractions to Richland Village that might encourage
tourism.
"Not everything is completely planned out yet," he said. "We're still
thinking a lot of things through because this is a big project."
Trebing said township officials will be open to suggestions from the public
at 7:30 p.m. Thursday when the Planning Board holds a meeting about the
redevelopment project.
At the meeting, Chiarello said, he'll speak on his recent experience at the
N.J. Mayors' Institute on Community Design at Princeton University, what he
learned at that seminar and how it can be applied to Richland Village. He said
he'll be glad to answer questions about the project and take input from anyone
who attends.
Angelina Biscoglio of Richland, who owns and operates Little Frankie's
Italian Deli, said she can hardly wait for the project to be finished.
"Our business is getting better as time goes on," Biscoglio said. "But I know
it will be even better when the project is finished. I'm eagerly looking forward
to it because I know it will be good for the town."
Township officials said they'd like to renovate and fix up as many
storefronts as possible to attract tourists with a variety of quaint gift and
artisan stores, a flower shop, antique stores and an art gallery.
"We're looking at a lot of different things that we don't have but think will
be good for the community and for people traveling through the area," Chiarello
said. "Part of what we're looking to unveil in the near future is the
opportunity for additional shops and places for businesses to locate in Richland
Village. We have several sites that we're working on."
BUENA VISTA -- When the Richland Village revitalization project nears
completion, Mayor Chuck Chiarello hopes to have a tourist railway line in place.
And he's got just the one in mind: the Cape May Seashore Line, which once
serviced the area before passenger service was phased out about 15 years ago
because of a decline in ridership. The only trains now using the track through
Richland are freight haulers.
Township officials plan to turn a six-block area in the heart of downtown
Richland into a tourist destination, complete with a train depot and museum,
quaint stores, restaurants and a park. The town center's redevelopment,
Chiarello believes, will bring an influx of shoppers who can come in on the
railroad line instead of driving their cars and who would infuse money into the
local economy.
For the past month, Chiarello has been hard at work drumming up support for
the railroad line, which would make stops at Richland Village, Tuckahoe Station,
Woodbine, Dennisville, Cape May Court House, Cold Spring Village and Cape May
City.
Additional stops between Richland and Tuckahoe could be added in places such
as Milmay, Dorothy and Estell Manor, according to Tony Macrie, president, owner
and general manager of Cape May Seashore Line.
Chiarello and Macrie are convinced the rail service project could happen
within two years -- about the time the core of the Richland revitalization
project will be finished.
The only thing that stands in their way is money, which they believe could be
made available once the right connections are made.
In an attempt to find financial support, Chiarello and Macrie attended a
meeting last month hosted by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority in
Atlantic City. Both spoke to officials from the CRDA, the state Department of
Transportation and NJ Transit, which operates virtually all the railroad lines
in the state.
Chiarello was tapped at that meetingto head up a committee to garner support
for the tourist railroad line. He spoke with George Warrington, chief executive
officer of NJ Transit, and Alan Weinberg, an official with the railroad system.
He said both seemed pleased with the township's plan for Richland Village.
On June 6, Chiarello presented a resolution to the Township Committee asking
it to support the railroad and urge state officials to play an active role in
finding financial sources to prepare the rail line for use as soon as possible.
It was passed unanimously.
Copies of the resolution were sent to communities along the rail line's right
of way. Since then, Chiarello has been informed by several of those
municipalities that they plan to draft similar resolutions in support of the
project.
The Cape May Seashore Line presently runs on 12 miles of track between Cape
May Court House and Cape May City, according to Macrie.
"We want to expand the track to 42 miles, from Richland Village to Cape May
City," Macrie said. "However, in order to do this, most of the track is going to
have to be repaired first."
Chiarello estimated those repairs would cost between $5 and $7 million, and
if everything runs smoothly, the line could be up and running within a year.
Macrie said the bulk of the work involves replacing worn railroad ties -- a
job that would take six months at most.
He added that he sees NJ Transit as a "catalyst" for finding avenues of
financial assistance.
NJ Transit officials could not be reached for comment.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP -
The brick sidewalks taking shape along Route 40 in Richland Village aren't made
of bricks. They're a cement mixture designed to simulate bricks.
For township officials, the sidewalks being laid down are further progress on a
project they hope will become a tourist hot spot in Buena Vista.
The Richland Village 1920s-themed destination is projected to feature commuter
train service, model railroad displays, a park, restaurants, shops, a winery and
other structures that reflect a southern New Jersey of days past.
It won't take shape overnight.
At the project's November groundbreaking, township Mayor Chuck Chiarello
predicted that putting the finishing touches on the village would take three to
five years.
But the streetscape phase, which involves themed benches and lamps, as well as
the "brick sidewalk," is well under way.
The next stage will involve a railroad-style pavilion for the project's park.
Chiarello said Thursday the project has attracted attention in other parts of
the state.
He was asked to present the Richland Village concept at the New Jersey Mayors'
Institute held at Princeton University earlier this week.
Chiarello said the design was examined by outside architects and engineers at
the conference.
"They'll be able to provide fresh perspectives on Richland Village," Chiarello
said.
Meanwhile, the township continues to seek funds to keep the project going.
The completed Richland Village will have an estimated price tag of more than $2
million. Township officials hope to cover the majority of these costs through
both federal and state sources. Other revenues are expected from township
investments.
So far, more than $500,000 has been raised from these sources, according to
Township Business Administrator Ron Trebing.
The township had been pursuing an Urban Enterprise Zone designation in hopes of
securing more funding.
The Township Committee has scheduled a public hearing on the bond ordinance
for 8 p.m. July 5 in the Municipal Building, 890 Harding Highway.
BUENA VISTA -- Township officials are in negotiations to buy more property
for the Richland Village revitalization project.
The Township Committee this week unanimously voted to introduce a $450,000
bond ordinance for the purpose of purchasing the land that it's trying to
acquire and to make improvements upon the property.
Mayor Chuck Chiarello said officials cannot provide any details of the
possible land acquisition until negotiations are completed. But he said
residents would be pleased when he's able to reveal the details.
Richland Village is the name given to the historic area along Route 40
between Greenbriar Avenue and the railroad tracks that is being restored as a
tourist destination. Officials plan a railroad depot, stores, new restaurants, a
museum, a new park, sidewalks and railroad-style lighting. Work is currently
under way to install the sidewalks and lights.
BUENA VISTA
The community that temporarily named itself after an alcoholic drink in 2004 has
gone totally batty.
For two weeks last May, the township's Richland section was renamed Mojito in
honor of the popular rum-based summer drink whose key ingredient is mint. Rum
maker Bacardi promotes mojitos and buys fresh mint from Dalponte Farms off
Llewellyn Avenue in order to showcase the drink at different publicity events.
The renaming brought national attention to the often-overlooked community.
But Laura Baddish, the New York-based advertising executive representing Bacardi,
was looking for a new way this year to draw attention to Richland's mojito
roots.
"So, we had a crop circle in the form of a bat done on the Dalponte farm,"
she said. A bat has been Bacardi's logo since the company, now based in Miami,
began in Cuba in 1862.
"It represents prosperity and good fortune," Baddish explained. The crop
circle isn't the work of extraterrestrials, although out-of-towners were called
in to create the 180-foot-wide circle that encloses a 1.5-acre bat carving on
the Dalponte family's 300-acre farm.
Harrison Jenkins, an environmental design artist from Bloomfield, Conn., and
two helpers took three days to design it.
"It was amazing how they did it," said Dennis "Denny" Dalponte Jr., 31, a
fourth-generation member of the mint-growing family. "They had lawn mowers, weed
whackers, wooden stakes and string as tools. First, they used the mowers to chop
down some of the mint plants, which are about 3 feet high, to the root level so
they could make the circle and then the wings, ears, eyes, nose and body of the
bat. Everything was perfectly circular and linear."
Dalponte said Bacardi paid the family an undisclosed sum to use a 6-acre mint
patch on the property's outskirts. The crop circle should remain distinguishable
from an airplane for at least a month before the vegetation grows back, he said.
Dalponte said the crop circle is the first of its kind to be cut into a mint
field, and Bacardi plans to get it certified by Guinness World Records as the
biggest mint crop circle in existence.
"Last year, 207 crop circles occurred in this country, and 195 of them just
suddenly appeared without any explanation," Dalponte noted. "However, I can't
say I saw any drunken extraterrestrials with a few mojitos under their belts
here working on our crop circle. We had the help of an earthly alien - alien
because he came from another state."
Dalponte said he didn't think the crop circle was very impressive while
observing it from ground level. But once he took a plane flight over the farm
with a pilot neighbor, he realized what a fine work of art it was.
Baddish said she and other Bacardi executives love the fresh mint grown by
the Dalpontes.
"We order at least 500 boxes a year from them," she said.
Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello said he realizes Richland's renaming was a
one-shot deal - something he'll never forget.
"Naming Richland Mojito makes you realize that the mint used in the drink is
grown locally by one of the largest mint farms in the country and that this
local product is shipped worldwide," he said.
Chiarello said he heard about the crop circle from Carlo Merighi, a service
station owner in Richland and licensed pilot who had been making trips over the
Dalponte farm in his two-seater Cessna aircraft to view the sight from the air.
Realizing that the crop circle was man-made shattered Chiarello's fantasy
that such occurrences are the work of visitors from another planet, he said.
"For me, crop circles were one of those great mysteries of life," he said
with a sigh. "Now we have one of our very own."
FUN FACT
How much mint was removed from Dalponte Farms for the crop circle? 2,500
crates, or 12,500 pounds. That's enough mint for making 1,416,666 mojitos.
Nicola Gambale of Gambale Concrete Products in Clementon
(center) uses a backhoe to fill in a ditch after the installation of electric
street light conduits along Route 40 in Richland. Looking on is Gambale employee
Tony Barretta as the Richland Beautification Project continues.
Nicola Gambale Jr. compacts soil over 2-inch electric
street light conduits along Route 40 near Fir Avenue in Richland.
Tony Barretta of Gambale Concrete Products in Clementon
prepares to install electric conduits for street lights in Richland.
BUENA VISTA -- The Richland Village revitalization project is beginning to
become visible, in small ways, as construction work gets into full swing along
Route 40.
"There will be real substantial progress this summer on the project," Mayor
Chuck Chiarello said.
Crews recently installed electrical conduits needed for the gooseneck-style
lamp posts that eventually will light Route 40 between Greenbriar Avenue and the
railroad tracks, helping to give it the feeling of an old-fashioned train
station.
Within the next week, workers will begin pouring sections of sidewalk on both
sides of the same three-block stretch, Chiarello said. "We expect for the
sidewalk project to be done by late June or mid-July," he said.
Township officials proposed the Richland Village project to rejuvenate the
community's small but once-thriving Route 40 business district. They hope it
attracts tourists who pass through Richland on their way to shore destinations.
Right now, the railroad tracks are approved only for freight car
transportation. However, township officials are negotiating with NJ Transit to
allow for service that would transport passengers between Richland and Cape May.
"Things are going very positively with regards to the tourist train,"
Chiarello said.
TUCKAHOE - They came from Hoboken and Cape May to take a
four-mile ride on a slow train, but they all hope for a day when passenger rail
service will be part of every day life and not a novelty or something just to
entertain tourists.
Members of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers held a luncheon May
7 aboard one of Cape May Seashore Lines' restored dining cars, which was parked
at Tucka-hoe Railroad Station here.
Efforts to restore this 1894 station began in the 1970s and it finally reopened
two years ago, according to Lewis Albrecht, who chairs the architectural
committee for the Historical Preservation Society of Upper Township.
Currently used as a museum and home for the society, all present hope for a day
when it will once again serve its original purpose.
Albrecht said the society is “cooperating with Cape Seashore Lines in trying to
seek funds to repair between Woodbine and the county zoo; the tracks are good
from here.”
Following lunch, the train traveled south along new ties and rail to a Woodbine
site that those on board hope will be a new Woodbine train station someday.
Passing mostly through pines, and climbing to run over Route 550 on a newly
restored trestle, on the way, the acquisition of freight passengers by Cape
Seashore has made repairs to this portion of track possible.
The main topic of the day was the news that the Woodbine Tuckahoe run was being
revi-talized for freight and that evolving efforts to upgrade the tracks between
Court House and Woodbine were continuing.
“There is a lot of progress and a lot of problems,” said NJARP President Douglas
John Bowen, as he welcomed everyone to an annual event that is intended to thank
patrons and update members.
There are state funds available for freight lines but not passenger rails. Added
to that di-lemma is that, for higher speed rail travel for passengers, more work
needs to be done.
He said the group had “first pledged in 1980 in Cape May City to get lines
reopened to bring rail service back to Cape May.”
One problem that had been recently resolved was that the bridge over the Cape
May canal would be repaired to be in service this season.
“This December it had to be forced open and we needed to go after money again,”
said Carol Ann Thomas, an NJART member from Burlington County.
The bridge had been put back in service in December 1998 by New Jersey Transit
when Seashore Lines owner-operator Tony Macrie started the runs to Cape May. The
current problem is electrical and NJ Transit will be funding those repairs.
But, as Thomas explained, it is NJ Transit that owns the lines and the bridge,
which was built during World War II and placed in the canal, after it had served
its purpose on the Delaware Raritan Canal. It was damaged before 1998, said
Thomas, when a barge hit it and “no one went after the barge company.”
No mere weekend train buffs, the members of NJARP are a “rail passenger advocacy
group,” said Bowen.
It has supported Macrie's efforts since he began the seasonal trips to Cape May.
He told some two dozen passengers, which included members of the West Jersey
Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society, that he had traveled from
Woodbine to Court House recently and it had taken an hour and a half for that
ride.
“Under prefect conditions, from the time when Doug started talking, we could
have been in Cape May,” said Macrie, who was introduced about 40 minutes after
Bowen started the meeting.
“We don't get an operating subsidy from anyone, anywhere,” said Macrie. “We are
now officially a freight line but we can't use freight money for passenger. We
need a mechanism that on an annual basis, we have money to improve track.”
“The pool of money (for freight) is about $6 million a year,” said Paul Mulligan
the asso-ciation's Cape May liaison, “which doesn't go very far.”
He said other states, like Maine, which has invested $35 Million to renew rail
service, “invest in infrastructure to support tourism.”
Mayor Chuck Chiarello, of Buena Vista, was also there as an invited guest. His
deputy mayor, Theresa Kelly and Sue Barber, a councilwoman, were there as well.
Buena Vista sits in Atlantic County just at its border with this county and the
three were there to show their support for a renewal of passenger service above
Tuckahoe, “hoping we will have a tourist line up to Richland,” said Chiarello.
Mulligan also presented a report on transportation and mobility, which he said
was the group's vision for the Cape May Branch.
“Some say it's a railroad to no where,” said Mulligan, who maintains homes in
Rahway and West Cape May. “But I say no, it's a train to Cape May.”
That city has visitors, “who are already staying at camp grounds or in other
towns and no visit is complete without a visit to Cape May.”
He sees the Cape Seashore line “as serious transportation, not just touristy.”
That the restoration of older cars gives the line a historical component doesn't
change that, said Mulligan, it simply fits with the Cape May theme.
“We have to convince Philadelphia,” said Mulligan. “Get people to leave cars
home, it (Cape May) is a pedestrian city. Woodbine sits astride 550, a way to
intersect with vacation-ing traffic.”
Caroline Tice, of Cape May, one of the patrons honored at the luncheon, recalled
traveling by rail to Cape May from Philadelphia with her parents when she was
young.
“It was stifling, but we always knew when we had arrived in Tuckahoe, because
the air was so much fresher,” said Tice.
Remember the "Richland Bump?" If all goes according to plan, the Richland
Village -- including a park, restaurants, a model train display and a proposed
rail line into Cape May County -- could become a future tourist attraction for
those traveling through Buena Vista Township along Route 40.
This is a far cry from 25 years ago when Richland, or, at least the Route 40
railroad crossing there, was described as "one of South Jersey's major tourist
detractions" by the Vineland Times Journal.
Nicknamed "Richland Bump," the west side of the crossing sat nearly two-feet
higher than the east side. Between were four iron rails threatening to wreak
havoc on the underside of any car not slowing to a crawl.
Drivers approaching from the west any faster than 15 mph literally left the
ground after hitting the tracks. A "Dip" sign posted 100 feet away did little to
slow the uninitiated who, for decades, had been leaving their exhaust pipes, and
sometimes even transmissions, in Richland.
Next to one appliance store on the east side of the tracks, a collection of
hubcaps and mufflers grew larger with each passing day.
The owner of the business had to keep reseeding his lawn, forever ravaged by
out of control vehicles, which suffered the wrath of the sinister "Bump."
Long a sore spot with frustrated township officials, they were powerless to
fix the "Bump" since the highway was owned by the state and the tracks by
Conrail.
Some requested that the township's position be documented so it would not be
held liable should a fatal accident occur.
Tragically, in 1981, the worst fears proved true.
At the time, the Richland crossing had been on a long list of Conrail
crossings scheduled for repairs.
But little seemed to happen until a four--car accident one Friday claimed the
life of a 19-year-old Northfield man.
The next morning, dozens of residents joined by township officials staged an
angry protest at the scene.
Local firefighters used fire trucks to block the tracks. They were later
ordered to remove them by the State Police, but the pickets had gotten their
message across.
They wanted something done. And quick.
The following week, Department of Transportation officials inspected the
site. Although upgrades on up to 300 of the state's crossings were performed
each year on a "first come, first served" basis, Richland became classified as a
top priority.
Flashing yellow lights were ordered installed and, that September, a
front-page story headlined "Good Riddance!" announced that the infamous
"Richland Bump" would soon be no more.
Among improvements planned were the removal of one set of tracks and the
gradual sloping of the roadway.
In addition to the leveling, remaining tracks were embedded in a rubberized
surface to permit vehicles to sail smoothly over the crossing.
BUENA VISTA -- The transformation of a stretch of Route 40 into the Richland
Village is officially under way.
Sidewalk construction has begun, new restaurants are on the horizon and
officials are finalizing plans to install electric wires that will power street
lamps.
"Good things are starting to happen with this project," Mayor Chuck Chiarello
said.
Buena Vista officials last July unveiled their vision for a redesigned Route
40 corridor that would revitalize Richland's once-thriving business community.
The "Richland Village" plan calls for new sidewalks, landscaping, decorative
lighting and a Village Square Park that would attract shoppers and tourists.
A construction crew last week began making cuts in the asphalt where new
sidewalks will be installed between Greenbriar Avenue and nearby railroad
tracks, Chiarello said. Those sidewalks, along with street lamps and benches,
will be in place by the end of summer, he said.
Meanwhile, four eateries in the Richland area have changed hands recently.
According to Chiarello:
Uncle Mike's, at Route 40 and Cedar Avenue, is undergoing a major renovation
and will reopen as a new restaurant called Memories.
Giacomo's has new owners and could reopen this summer as a restaurant called
My Legacy.
Brassie's Place is slated to reopen as A.J.'s Pub once it finalizes a liquor
license transfer.
The delicatessen next to the Richland post office is operating under new
ownership. It's now called Little Frankie's Italian-American Deli.
"This gives us a really good feeling, a vote of confidence," Chiarello said
of the flurry of business activity occurring in Richland.
Also, the township recently worked out a roughly $4,000 deal in which
Conectiv will put in new wires to accommodate the street lamps that will line
the highway. Officials wanted to preserve the area's aesthetics by limiting the
number of places where power lines hang across Route 40; the new wires will
cross at the Fir Avenue intersection, alongside existing lines.
BUENA VISTA -- Richland Village, the township's plan to revitalize a
stretch of Route 40 that once was a thriving business community, is one step
closer to reality thanks to a $150,000 grant from the state Department of
Environmental Protection.
The money, which the township received Thursday, will go toward
construction of the new Village Square Park.
"At the turn of the 20th century, the Richland section of our township was
the heart of our town district and a bustling center for business," Mayor
Chuck Chiarello said. "Railroad tracks once crossed in all four directions
coming through town, and there was a train every hour filled with
passengers.."
Chiarello estimates that 25,000 cars a day pass through Richland on Route
40, traveling between Delaware and Atlantic City's casinos. The township wants
to divert some of that traffic to patronize the town center's businesses.
"By next year, or 2007 at the latest, we hope to have Richland Village
totally renovated," the mayor said of the $2 million plan. "When you count
this most recent grant from the DEP, we have gotten $680,000 in grants for the
work."
The township will use the latest funds to create Village Square Park, a
l.7-acre wooded lot with two large oak trees between Fir and Greenbriar
avenues. Within a couple months, the mayor said, the land will be cleared of
brush to make way for fencing, sidewalks, walkways, benches and a flagpole.
"It's going to be a trained-themed park," Chiarello said. The township is
negotiating to get Cape May Seashore Lines to run trains that would bring
tourists to Richland.
At the turn of the century, Richland was a boom community with thriving
stores and restaurants lining its railroad tracks, Chiarello said. A rapidly
growing farming and poultry industry surrounded it, along with numerous cedar
barrel manufacturing companies.
Located in the heart of the business district, the Richland General Store
has managed to weather the town center's economic storms during its nearly
century-long existence, but some other commercial enterprises have not been so
fortunate.
"At present, we have three closed restaurants," Chiarello said. "Right now,
there is little reason for people to stop. By next year, we want to change
that by reopening the restaurants, and some of the stores and other
businesses, along with a model railroad exhibit and possibly a cultural
exhibit explaining Richland's past history."
Tom Gill, who owns Richland General Store, said he has started to see some
small signs of the work about to get under way.
"I just received a notice that a parking lot will be built by the township
next to me," he said. "The other day, I saw workmen putting down small flags
and marking other spots with bright orange fluorescent paint."
He also has noticed that a former restaurant and pizzeria are being
reopened and that the delicatessen housed in the post office building across
the street is under new management.
"I can't say that I've seen any physical construction yet, but you can tell
it's coming," said Gill, who sells hardware along with beer- and wine-making
equipment. "I'm really looking forward to the renovation of Richland Village
-- it's going to be a big boon for us."
BUENA VISTA -- The state is giving $50,000 to Buena Vista to help support
its vision for transforming a stretch of properties along Route 40 into the
Richland Village.
The N.J. Department of Community Affairs presented the Smart Future
Planning Grant to the township last week.
"If we are to preserve our quality of life in New Jersey, we must work
together to strategically manage growth," said Community Affairs Commissioner
Susan Bass Levin. "Buena Vista has accomplished that with its comprehensive
growth plan, while also preserving the township's cultural and historical
treasures."
The Richland Village project has received about $470,000 in grants to date.
The latest money will allow officials to conduct studies and assemble
demographic data necessary for procuring future grants, Mayor Chuck Chiarello
said.
"It gives us the ability to properly design this project, which will have a
great impact on the future of our community," he said.
Richland Village aims to attract tourists to a century-old gathering of
houses and stores along a once-busy railroad crossing by providing shopping
and recreational opportunities, rehabilitating buildings and making
streetscape improvements.
Commissioner
Susan Bass Levin awards Buena Vista Mayor Charles Chiarello a $50,000 Smart
Future Planning Grant to support the township’s planning efforts.
TRENTON, N.J. – Department of Community
Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Susan Bass Levin today awarded a $50,000 Smart
Future Planning Grant to Buena Vista Township in Atlantic County. The grant
will support the township’s coordinated planning along Route 40 and the
rehabilitation of historic structures.
“Working together is a major factor in
making Smart Growth successful in New Jersey,” Acting Governor Richard J.
Codey said. “We stand committed to partnering with our municipalities to grow
smart and create hope for a better future.”
“If we are to preserve our quality of
life in New Jersey, we must work together to strategically manage growth,”
Commissioner Levin said. “Buena Vista has accomplished that with its
comprehensive growth plan, while also preserving the township’s cultural and
historical treasures.”
With its grant, Buena Vista will coordinate
planning along Route 40 near Richland Village.The
Township has already undertaken a streetscape project for the portion of Route
40 bisecting the Village, including sidewalk installation and tree-lined
streets.
“The Richland Village project is
vitally important to the town,” said Buena Vista Mayor Charles Chiarello.
“DCA and Smart Growth’s support allows us to properly progress with this
project. It gives us the ability to properly design this project, which will
have a great impact on the future of our community.”
Smart Future Planning Grants are part of the
Smart Future Initiative, which promotes smart growth planning between
municipalities and Counties throughout New Jersey. They are funded through
DCA’s Office of Smart Growth, which is leading the effort to promote
sustainable development, protect the environment, preserve open space and
revitalize older communities.
DCA is dedicated to making smart
investments across the State, to create strong and vibrant communities where
people want to raise families and build businesses. These investments support
local governments, protect the environment, provide housing, advocate for
women and minorities, and improve the quality of life for all New Jersey
citizens.
Buena
Vista Township obtained a $50,000 state grant Monday for planning efforts along
Route 40 and the renovation of historic structures.
The state Department of Community Affairs handed out the grant as part of its
Smart Future Initiative, which promotes smart growth planning between
municipalities and counties.
Township officials said the money would be used to focus on the Richland Village
area, which will include a bus stop themed as a re-created Route 40 train stop.
They hope to attract Cape May-bound drivers to the tourist stop, which would
include restaurants, a winery and shops reflecting how southern New Jersey
looked in the early 20th century.
"The Richland Village project is vitally important to the town," Buena Vista
Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.
DCA Commissioner Susan Bass Levin said the project accomplishes state goals of
coordinating and focusing development growth.
"Buena Vista has accomplished that with its comprehensive growth plan, while
also preserving the township's cultural and historical treasures," Levin said.
The full project is estimated to take three to five years and cost about $2
million. A parking lot's expected to be completed by spring, while work on
streetlights, benches and sidewalks will parallel that effort.
BUENA VISTA -- The building doesn't look large enough, but once finished, it
will hold dozens of railroads that will traverse rivers and mountain ranges.
The locomotives and cars, of course, will be smaller than life-sized, about
1/87th the scale of an actual train, according to the model railroaders who will
set up displays in the building at the corner of Route 40 and Fire Road in
Richland.
On Monday, the township committee approved a lease with the Patcong Society
of Model Railroaders for part of the building, said Mayor Chuck Chiarello.
The township-owned building will become the headquarters for the society and
will be open to the public.
The building also will include a welcome center and other facilities that
will be part of the Richland Village project, an effort to bring tourists to the
century-old gathering of houses and stores along a once-busy railroad crossing.
And while plans for a real train to provide tourist rides to Richland have
yet to be realized, it also will only be a matter of time before the society
brings its miniature locomotives and elaborate displays to town, said society
member G. Thomas Todd.
"We have a lot of work to do, so it might not be until next year that the
first display will be open to the public," Todd said.
The society lost its old headquarters in Egg Harbor Township last year when
the owner of the building, an older society member, had to sell it for personal
reasons, Todd said.
Although heartbroken about breaking up all the old displays, Todd said the
new 3,000-square-foot space in the Richland building will offer the society a
chance to create an entirely new landscape in miniature models.
"We'll have everything from cities and country, rivers and streams, mountains
-- you name it," Todd said.
The display will be open to the public with the society only asking for
voluntary donations, Todd said.
"It's something that runs in our blood," Todd said about the hobby. "When we
see the faces of people who come to look at our displays, that's what it's all
about for us."
"It's something that takes just about everybody back in time," he added. "It
makes us all kids again."
BUENA
VISTA -- All aboard for information and historical memorabilia from the
township's Richland area!
That was the call made by Mayor Chuck Chiarello at a recent meeting of the
Buena Historical Society.
While the society always looks to add to its collection of historical data,
Chiarello said the Richland Village project also should focus special attention
on new information.
The township is undergoing a project to develop Richland as a tourist
destination by using its history as a bustling late-19th and early-20th century
railroad village, Chiarello said.
The official groundbreaking for the $350,000 first phase of the project was
held earlier this month as part of an ongoing effort to recreate the atmosphere
of the Victorian era, Chiarello said.
Aside from public efforts, a model railroad association is expected to use
one of the village's well preserved buildings as its headquarters, township
officials said.
The building will become home to the association's elaborate model railroad
displays.
While much of Richland's past has been preserved in buildings such as the
Richland General Store, Chiarello said a wealth of information still can be
found in attics and garages of area residents who may not know the historical
value of items they may have in storage.
The township's older residents also offer an opportunity to get an oral
history of what Richland was like in its heyday, Chiarello said.
"Anything that might help to enhance our knowledge of Richland's past will
help us chart its future as a place of interest for people who may not realize
the rich history of this village," Chiarello said.
Display cases will be set up once the Richland Village project is complete
some time in 2006, Chiarello said.
The collection of historical material could someday lead to the need for a
museum on the area, Chiarello said.
Much of the history of Richland is based on the railroads that ran through
town bringing tourists and settlers, said Harry Benson, president of the Buena
Historical Society.
"Buena didn't have very many residents or much of anything except forests
until the railroad came," Benson said. "The railroad brought people and
businesses to Richland and the surrounding areas."
Richland has several historical buildings that have changed little in the
past century, said Benson.
"The Richland General Store and the building where the Richland Hotel was
have had a few changes, but not many," Benson said. "And we have a lot of houses
and other buildings from the late 1800s that are in remarkable shape."
Location: US Route 40 and Main Avenue (adjacent to the Richland General Store)
Mayor Chuck Chiarello, and Township Committee along with
the Buena Vista Economic Advisory Board invite you to attend the Ground Breaking
Ceremony for the “Richland Village Project.” When completed Richland Village
will be a “turn of the century to 1920’s” themed destination located on US Route
40 (Harding Highway in Richland).
The project which was started about one year ago includes
various Streetscape grants from the New Jersey Department of Transportation, a
parking lot grant from the USDA Rural Development and acquisitions funded from
Buena Vista Economic Funds. When completed the revitalization project plans to
offer tourist train service through the Cape May Seashore Lines, model
railroad displays from the Patcong Valley Model Railroad Club, a
recreated train station, unique shops, a winery, restaurants, crafts and other
ideas that will make Richland Village an enjoyable stop along Route 40.
The invited guests include US Senator Frank Lautenberg, US
Senator Jon Corzine, Senator Nick Asselta, Congressman Frank LoBiondo, Acting
Governor Richard J. Codey, Assemblymen Jeff Van Drew and Jack Gibson, New Jersey
Department of Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere and other federal,
state, county and local dignitaries.
Expected at the ceremony will be a train from the Cape May
Seashore Lines courtesy of their President Tony Macrie. There will be a ground
breaking ceremony hosted by our local officials. There will be tours of the
immediate area and general information about the project.
Richland Village is the largest of several exciting
projects on the Township’s horizon expected to be boosted by Assemblyman Jeff
Van Drew’s UEZ legislation. The designation of Buena Vista Township as an Urban
Enterprise Zone (UEZ) is an important economic engine that will enhance Richland
Village, enabling it to become the anchor along the Route 40 corridor
encouraging economic growth and business revitalization.
For more information contact Mayor Chuck Chiarello or
Township Administrator Ron Trebing at 856-697-2100 then press 8.
Homeward Bound Patcong Railroaders find new home in Buena Vista
10/28/04
EGG
HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Herbert Scheufele and other model railroaders will be working
until December, taking apart the miniature world that took them 15 years to
build.
The Patcong Valley Society of Model Railroaders found a new home in Buena Vista
Township, but their intricate scenery, which was glued to the old building, will
go in the dumpster.
"We've just gotten used to having a big layout that is all detailed and now we
have to start from scratch," said Scheufele, 66, a retired telephone engineer
from Ocean City and the group's secretary.
The club will move in January to an old brick factory building on Route 40 in
the Richland section of Buena Vista, he said.
The society's present clubhouse on Fire Road, which belonged to a member, will
be demolished in December. The 25 model railroaders held their annual train show
this month, and advertised their search for a new home.
Dick Schiereck, club treasurer and owner of the old property, said that the club
received more than $1,000 in donations and more than 1,000 visitors during their
two weekends of shows. He added that dozens of people called about possible
homes for the club, but the railroaders chose the Buena Vista building because
it was close to the road and would bring in more visitors.
Scheufele said it may take another 15 years to rebuild what the club had. But
members are already devising ways to improve the old set-up, including a digital
and computerized track system, he said.
"Everybody enjoys something different," he said. "Some people like to run the
trains. Some like to build the tracks, others the scenery. That's what makes it
a good hobby, and that's how we can function as a club because everyone likes to
do different things."
He added, "We are sad to see what we are losing but we are (looking) forward to
the challenge of building something better."
