Dundee Island Park

In partnership with Passaic County, the City of Passaic, and the residents of East Passaic, we are transforming Dundee Island Park. The park had become run down and mostly unused. To create a park that meets the community’s needs we started by engaging neighbors in discussions about the park. The result of that process was a design that includes a new youth soccer field, a multi-age playground, a water play spray area, community garden, adult fitness area, great lawn, amphitheater, boat launch, and a river walk.

Our plans for the park take into consideration the advantage of being Passaic’s only riverfront park allowing residents to get to and on the water, and the layout mitigates the impacts of flooding. Charlie Spademan, a local artist, is designing a tree sculpture on which the artist will hang leaves with messages and art created by community members. The tree’s steel construction reflects the site’s location abutted by rails along a river being reclaimed for recreational uses.

The project is in construction now thanks to generous funding from New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Natural Resource Restoration and Passaic County Open Space Trust Fund as well as support from private philanthropy. The park is slated to open in the autumn of 2020. To learn more or donate, please contact Scott Dvorak, New Jersey Parks Program Director at [email protected]

Photo credit: MKW Associates