With nary a question or comment from the public, the City Council last night approved borrowing almost $3 million for improvements to Union County’s Rahway River Park and athletic facilities behind the high school on Madison Avenue.

The $2.89 million in borrowing was split between two bond ordinances: O-3-14 authorized $540,000 for school parks behind Madison and O-7-14 authorized $2.35 million for Rahway River Park on St. Georges Avenue. Both had been introduced last month, one at the regular meeting Feb. 10 and the second at a special meeting Feb. 26. The two projects announced at Interim Mayor Samson Steinman’s State of the City address last month are outlined in this earlier blog post.

The $540,000 project behind the high school would upgrade the softball fields as well as basketball and tennis courts and begin this summer. A $120,000 grant will come from the Union County Kids’ Recreation Trust in addition to a $170,000 contribution from the Board of Education and $200,000 from the city.

Renovations to Rahway River Park, which will include an eight-lane track and turf football field, are expected to break ground sometime in the fall.

There were no questions or comments by the governing body except for Councilman At-large James Baker. During the council comment portion of the meeting, he said the borrowing reflected the city’s commitment to improving recreation facilities and Rahway River Park should be “a showcase facility athletically and an attraction for Rahway.”