Exhibit Unveils Designs for long-awaited Voorhees Environmental Park

WHAT: Voorhees Township unveiling of four innovative designs created by students of the Rutgers Graduate Program of Landscape Architecture for the conversion of the former landfill  into the Voorhees Environmental Park.

WHEN: PRESS AVAILABILITY: Monday, March 19, 8 p.m. at the Township Work Groups meeting. The exhibit is open to the public from Monday, March 19-Saturday, April 14.

WHERE: Voorhees Town Hall, 2400 Voorhees Town Center, Voorhees, NJ.

WHO: A collaborative project of Voorhees Township, Voorhees Environmental and Cultural Education Foundation (VECEF), the Rutgers Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability (CUES) and various Rutgers departments.

BACKGROUND: Long of interest to South Jersey, the closed landfill on Centennial Boulevard, in Voorhees, NJ, is now being transformed into an environmental park. The students’ designs are intended to test ideas about the conversion of this former brownfield site into publicly usable open space and will be used to obtain input from the public and stakeholders about the possible uses and the shape of park.

The students were tasked with developing an integrated concept for open space, commercial use (solar panels) and storm water management. The goal was to generate innovative solutions that incorporated existing social, economic, ecological conditions.

Voorhees Township is working to find a creative solution for funding this new public space initiative by designating a substantial portion of the site to install a solar power array. The financial incentives from the array will support building and maintaining the park.

The next step will be to combine the best ideas and approaches into one comprehensive design that will transform the landfill into a public park.