UPPER FREEHOLD — Residents may be able to access the Monmouth County Park System’s (MCPS) Union Transport trail via the municipal complex property if the township receives a grant to construct a walkway to the trail, which runs behind the site .

The 2012 Recreational Trails Program Grant is available through the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Green Acres Program, with an application deadline of Feb. 15.

At the Jan. 19 Township Committee meeting, the governing body voted unanimously to approve the submission of the grant application, which requires a 25 percent match from the municipality. Township Administrator Dianne Kelly said she did not think it would be an expensive project.

The first two miles of the gravel trail, formerly the Union Transport railroad line, opened in 2010, according to the MCPS website. This section includes a rehabilitated historic wooden trestle bridge over Lahaway Creek, one of the few remaining physical remnants of the old railroad. The third and fourth miles of trail, from Jonathan Holmes Road to Davis Station Road, opened in 2011.

When completed, the trail will measure 8.6 miles long.

Committeeman Bob Faber noted that the county has a parking lot for trail access near Jonathan Holmes Road. Kelly said she often sees local residents taking walks around the municipal complex, because it is too dangerous to go for a stroll along Route 539, where the municipal buildings are located.

Faber also brought up the possibility of locating a parking lot adjacent to the trail on an approximately half-acre site on Davis Station Road; the site has municipal tax liens.

Kelly said the township does not own that property at this time, and the site would be ineligible for the grant, which only applies to trails.

However, she said the township is owed a “lot of money in back taxes” on the lot, and the township could go through a formal foreclosure process to take ownership of it and then sell it to the county for a parking lot.

Township Attorney Granville Magee said the township must check to see if the property had any tax sale certificates sold on it, which must be redeemed. If it is found to be feasible for the township to take over the site, the governing body can pass a resolution and enter a contract with the county, contingent on township acquisition, he said. An appraisal also would be necessary, he said.