Four years after cutting down about three dozen dead and diseased trees in Grove Park, the South Orange Village Council on Monday night awarded a contract for almost $1 million for the Grove Park rehabilitation project.
The contract of $997,869, paid for in part by the Open Space Trust Fund, for the two-phase project went to Furnio & Sons Construction of Branchburg, New Jersey, whose bid was described by the Village Engineer David Battaglia as “the lowest responsible bid.”
The first phase, priced at $674,601, will be construction work including clearing the site, materials for sidewalks and drainage as well as topsoil, seeding, fertilizing and straw mulching.
The second phase, which will cost $323,268, includes the costs for planting 34 large deciduous trees (trees that drop their leaves in the fall), 41 flowering deciduous trees of 8 to10 feet in height, 603 deciduous shrubs, 785 evergreen perennials, and installing 41 benches and 20 trash receptacles.
Council Member Bill Haskins has been working with neighbors who’ve pushed for the rehabilitation project since 2022, when so many trees in Grove Park died from disease and had to be chopped down.
RELATED 2022: South Orange Announces 31-36 Trees to be Removed from Grove Park
“[Losing the trees] was a real tragedy for our community,” Haskins said at the March 9, 2026 Village Council meeting. “It impacted a lot of people; it impacted me greatly to have to see that work through. We had to do it. Those trees were dead and they were a hazard, but it decimated the park at the time.
Haskins said he is glad to be embarking on the restoration in the park over the next year “in a really substantial way.”
“After we cut those trees down, I was in that park one day, just standing there, just looking at those trees…and a guy walked over, and he said to me, ’What are you gonna do?’ And I looked at him kind of fondly because I hadn’t introduced myself or wasn’t identified in any way. And he said, ‘It seems like you’re a part of it.’”
“And that was a very impactful thing for me to hear at that time,” Haskins said, “but then it actually became a joy for me to be a part of it, because I met so many people that care deeply about Grove Park.”
Since the trees were removed, Haskins said so many things that have happened regarding the park that have heartened him. Among them: A girl celebrating her bat mitzvah raised money to plant trees in the park, which the Village planted, and many community members from Montrose and Seton Village came together to determine what the park needs and what it should be.
“And our Department of Public Works guys who cut down those trees have taken it so personally that we rebuild it back and replant there,” he said, adding that he has spent a lot of time in the park talking to people who use it and learned people from all over Essex County use and love the park, too.
“It was just such a heartening process to learn how much people love that park and to know that we’re going to make it actually very similar to what it was, but just make it new and better. So I’m excited about the project.”
South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum said Grove Park has a lot of friends, and she looks forward to starting the project.
“It’s a park for everyone, whether you live in South Orange or are visiting South Orange,” she said. “I think these are going to be the next necessary steps to see its next chapter in history as a vibrant open space, enjoyed by all.”
In 2022, South Orangge Village had to remove dead and diseased trees in Grove Park. This year the park will be gettin restored.
