PRESS RELEASE Contact: Edward Goodell, w201-512-9348 x12, c201-803-6555, goodell@nynjtc.org

Friday, November 30, 2007

MAHWAH, NJ--The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has ambitious plans for rehabilitating a longvacant, historic landmark as its future headquarters in Mahwah, NJ. The start of the design and fundraising phases of the Darlington Schoolhouse renovation were announced on Friday, following the purchase of the historic building and the 2.8 surrounding acres located on Route 202 at the intersection of Darlington Avenue.

“In addition to being a community landmark, this building is important statewide,” said Edward Goodell, executive directore of the Trail Conference. “The New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office has called it New Jersey’s ‘most architecturally significant schoolhouse’ and is set to list it on the National Register of Historic Places. We plan to respect the integrity of its architecture and history even as we renovate the building to meet our organization’s requirements and 21st century standards.”

Thursday’s closing was the culmination of a four-year effort to acquire the schoolhouse for rehabilitation by five parties—NJDEP Green Acres, Bergen County, Mahwah Township, the Morris Land Conservancy (MLC) and the Trail Conference. The $550,000 purchase price came from the the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund and the NJDEP Green Acres Program. In January, the Morris Land Conservancy made the initial purchase on behalf of the partnership. On Thursday, the Trail Conference and Mahwah Township jointly assumed title to the site from Morris Land Conservancy.

“Morris Land Conservancy was delighted to help facilitate the permanent preservation of this Highlands treasure,” said Conservancy Chairman C. Graydon Rogers. “Converting the building into the Trail Conference’s headquarters will ensure that it remains a landmark in Mahwah into the future.”

“We are very grateful to all of our partners for their support of this project,” Goodell said. “This has been a very fruitful private-public partnership from the start. That collaboration will continue and be reflected as we move ahead, raising money for stabilization and renovation of the building and developing plans for welcoming the public to the property. Our purchase of this site included a guarantee of public access to the open space by deeding a conservation easement to Bergen County and Green Acres,” Goodell noted.

Goodell anticipated that marked trails will eventually connect the Darlington site to the Ramapo Reservation and contiguous open space on both sides of the New York-New Jersey state line.

“It is a huge honor and responsibility to take ownership of this wonderful building and property with the Township,” Goodell said. “Clearly, getting title to Darlington Schoolhouse signals a beginning more than an end. We have a lot to do before we can move in and invite the general public to visit.”

“It’s going to be expensive to renovate and rehabilitate a 1890 structure that’s been vacant for over 20 years,” Goodell added. “But we’re committed to doing it right and doing it green. We will restore it as a working, active part of the community, as it once was. We will be good stewards of the building just as we are good stewards of the open space that surrounds us.”

Goodell noted that requests for architectural proposals would be released in December and major fundraising will begin immediately. Goodell has set his sights on starting construction in the first half of 2008.

Founded in 1920, the 501(c)3Trail Conference has over 2,000 members in Bergen County and 10,000 regionwide. Trail Conference volunteers maintain 1,700 miles of public trails in the region and more than 80 miles in Bergen County parks, including trails adjacent to the schoolhouse property in the Ramapo Valley County Reservation.

For more information or to volunteer and/or donate to the Darlington Schoolhouse rehabilitation, contact the Trail Conference at 201-512-9348 x10 or online at http://www.darlingtonschoolhouse.org.