The Friends of Wyckoff vs. The Parks and Recreation Foundation? Admittedly it doesn't have quite the same contentious ring to it as the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s. And to be fair, the dispute between the two groups is unlikely to involve firearms of any sort.

But still, the two organizations found themselves at odds during Monday's Township Committee meeting over a Friends of Wyckoff petition requesting a tweaking of the wording of Ordinance #1656, which would put a Public Question on the November ballot giving voters the opportunity to extend the existing annual tax levy to fund the Municipal Open Space Trust Fund for an additional five years.

The current Open Space Tax is set to expire on December 31. Since 2006 Wyckoff has raised $1,028,000, according to Township Administrator Robert Shannon, by charging residents a half cent per $1,000 of assessed property value which amounts to roughly $39 a year. The township expects to use those funds in their efforts to acquire open space properties such as Russell Farms and Maple Lake. In fact Monday's meeting was held earlier than usual so members of the Township Committee could travel to Hackensack to present an Open Space Grant Application to the Bergen County Open Space Advisory Board in their efforts to acquire the privately owned, 26.5-acre Maple Lake property.

But The Friends of Wyckoff, led by Chairperson Linda Vreeland, have concerns on what will happen to those funds if the township is ultimately unsuccessful in those attempts. Most specifically those concerns revolve around the fear that some, if not all, of the collected funds could be steered toward the $3.5 million renovation of Memorial and Pulis Fields.

"Even though the possibility that the funds could be used toward recreation was included in the first ordinance in 2006, I think more people are a little bit more savvy about it now," said Vreeland. For her part, Vreeland said she has no issue if a portion of the collected monies were used for recreational improvements and welcomes The Park and Rec Foundation's efforts in town, but she said her group would like some measured assurances that at least 50 percent of the money would be dedicated to open land acquisition, hence the petition.

"I think the Park and Rec Foundation is a great new addition to the town and we need both, but we want to voice our opinion about how the money will be used," she said.

Vreeland added that even without the 50 percent assurance, she felt strongly that the measure should be on the November ballot for extension and would likely throw her support behind it.

"We want this on the ballot and we want everyone to vote for it. That's our main goal," Vreeland said. "As long as we can find a way to compromise with all the groups involved and get on the same page."

At Monday's meeting Township Committee Member Chris DePhillips expressed surprise that the petition was circulating, saying he thought all parties were already on the same page.

"About six weeks ago I met with members of the Friends of Wyckoff because they had started a petition effort to convince the community... to convince us... to put the ballot question on the ballot in November," DePhillips said. "I told them I didn't think it was necessary because all five members of the governing body agree that the question of extending the tax should be put to the voters just as it had been five years ago."

DePhillips also noted the language of the ordinance is nearly identical to the language that was on the ballot five years ago and, as it did then, gives the Township Committee the discretion to allocate money from that fund to pay for a number of purposes "including open space acquisition, upgrading our Rec facilities, and allocating money to preserve historic homes," he said.

"It seemed to be a very simple process to me," DePhillips said. "I thought we were moving in the right direction."  He said he was then informed by committee member Brian Scanlan that the Friends had started another petition effort to change the language in the draft ordinance requesting the specific 50 percent earmark for open space acquisition.

That, said DePhillips, was akin to putting the cart before the horse. He said no decisions have been made on how to allocate the collected funds and the only concern at present is getting the question on the November ballot. "But (The Friends of Wyckoff) seem to believe that we were in discussions with the Rec Foundation on allocating monies to them for their turf project, and that has never happened," DePhillips said. "The Rec Foundation has never asked the Township Committee for Open Space Trust Fund money and we've told them repeatedly that we expect they'll go out into the community and raise this money, either through individuals or corporate donations for their turf project. We've told them time and again we don't have money to spend $3 million on the turf project."

Yet, DePhillips does allow that the wording of the ordinance could allow for the spending of the Open Space money on recreational projects at the Township Committee's discretion and that the Rec Foundation wouldn't be prohibited from requesting monies from the fund in the future.

Because of the dispute between the two groups on Monday, Committee Member Brian Scanlan, one of the leading forces behind getting the original 2006 measure on the ballot, found himself in the odd position of abstaining during the vote which eventually passed by three (Committee member Rudy Boonstra was not in attendance) for a measure he organized a petition drive five years earlier.

"At the time when the 2006 petition went into effect it enjoyed widespread community support. Since that time the attitude of the Township Committee has changed and the landscape has changed and now we have a lot more residents interested in recreation," Scanlan said. "The concern for the proponents of open space was if the Russell Farms and Maple Lake negotiations don't succeed that the money will be sitting there and could all be used for field enhancements."

Scanlan said a simple way to appease all parties is by declaring upfront that no less than 50 percent of the raised funds will be dedicated for open space acquisition, a measure that he doesn't find the least bit presumptuous.

"In putting this current ordinance in place we're establishing precisely what the language of the public question will be in November and establishing how the fund could be spent over the next five years," Scanlan said. "So it's not a question of jumping the gun, because what is decided now will determine how the fund is spent over the next five years."

As for his abstention, Scanlan said while he wants the question on the November ballot, he's hoping both groups will meet in the coming weeks to find a consensus.

"I think we need to bring together the proponents of open space preservation and the proponents of field enhancements to develop the strongest possible support for the public question this November," he said.