The bridge that Bayonne GC was "forced" to build is a fragment of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.
The Walkway was supposed to continue past the 16th green and past the driving range; going pretty much all around the south-east perimeter of the golf course all the way to the industrial area.
But Homeland Security recommended against completing the walkway, because the public would be able to wander around the Most Dangerous Mile in America (the Chemical Mile) - Bayonne's industrial/chemical area adjacent to BGC, where tanker cars of deadly chlorine gas are processed daily.
So the walkway ends where it ends.
BTW - there is no reason for Mucci to get his knickers in a twist over the bridge. It is a practice as old as modern civilization that municipalities get developers do extra stuff in exchange for permits.
Here are a few points:
1. The Bayonne public uses it on a daily basis for walks - it's a terrific walk - makes for good neighborly relations between BGC and Bayonne
2. BGC uses it daily for maintenance - I see all kinds of golf course vehicles with golf course workers using the bridge all the time
3. I believe Bayonne was initially promised a public golf course by Cherokee - the site development economics forced Bergstol's hand into making it private, so Bayonne countered with some tee-times for residents and the walkway for the public (although, as indicated below, the walkway - including the bridge - could have been required by law)
4. Liberty National was also "forced" to make a beautiful walkway for the public as part of Hudson River Waterfront Walkway - that walkway also looks to have cost about a mil.
Sorry, Pat, as a Hudson County resident I am THRILLED that both BGC and LNGC were "shaken down" by big, bad municipal governments to give something to the public besides fenced-off private properties in the midst of the most densely populated county in the nation.
And maybe, just maybe, when all the chemical industry leaves Bayonne and Jersey City, the Bridge at the Bayonne Golf Course won't lead to nowhere anymore, but will be a part of a continuous green belt called Hudson river Waterfront Walkway, which is being developed by people with vision.
PS - I just found this article.
Bayonne might have been just enforcing the law, not strong-arming Bergstol.
Judge Upholds Law on Waterfront Access
August 19, 1999
Turning aside complaints from developers, a Federal judge has upheld a state rule guaranteeing public access to an 18-mile walkway along the Hudson River.
A lawsuit by the builders marked the first time in the nation that an entire set of regulations on waterfront access was challenged on constitutional grounds, said Ann Alexander, a staff lawyer at the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, which joined other environmental groups and the state in defending the rules.
''There has been a disturbing trend of late toward privatization of the waterfront, but this decision sends a clear signal to developers that there are limits to that,'' Ms. Alexander said today.
A lawyer for the New Jersey Builders Association and the National Association of Homebuilders did not return a call seeking comment.
Judge Garrett E. Brown Jr. of Federal District Court filed his ruling last Thursday and lawyers learned of it on Tuesday, Ms. Alexander said.
The builders challenged a 1988 regulation in which the State Department of Environmental Protection requires developers along the Hudson to build and maintain a 30-foot-wide walkway that is open to the public. Their suit cited the Fifth Amendment's clause against government's taking property or diminishing its value without compensation.
The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs between the Bayonne and George Washington Bridges through nine towns. Fifteen miles are completed, and the remaining three miles are being designed.
The Shelter Bay Club complex in Edgewater used gates to close off its walkway because of vandalism. The state is trying to force its reopening.