NEWARK -- On a day tailor-made for a walk in the park, city and state officials joined open space and business leaders on a vacant lot along the Passaic River, where they donned hardhats, picked up shovels and ceremonially broke ground on the third phase of Newark's Riverfront Park.



"I often say, a city without a strong river is a city without a soul," said City Councilman Augusto Amador, who represents the Newark's Ironbound section, where the park is located.



Amador was joined for the groundbreaking by officials including Anthony Cucchi, state director of the non-profit Trust for Public Land, which has been instrumental in the park's development, and Commissioner Bob Martin of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which is contributing $6.3 million of the $7.76 million cost of the expansion.



Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey CEO Robert Marino said he was proud that the Horizon Foundation was contributing $250,000 to the third phase, which will bring the park steps away from Hobizon's headquarters near the river on Raymond Boulevard.



"We're a greener, more beautiful, and certainly healthier Newark," thanks to Riverfront Park, Marino said.

Mayor Ras Baraka did not attend, but issued a statement saying, "our continued work on Riverfront Park allows the Passaic River to serve as a front door into the city."



The park's first phase opened in 2012, followed by a second phase in 2013. The park is widely praised as an oasis of active and passive recreation between the river and Raymond Boulevard in Newark's Ironbound section.



"One of the things about the park is how good people are to each other when they're there," said Leonard Thomas, a 69-year-old resident of nearby Somme Street and a member of the Friends of Riverfront Park volunteer group.



The park's third phase, due to be completed in Fall 2017, will be made up of two sections, East and West, which will link the first two phases and extend the park farther west, closer to downtown.



A fourth and final phase, to begin next year and due for completion sometime in 2018, will extend the park a mile farther west, roughly to the Route 280 overpass. Design work on the fourth phase is now underway by James Corner Field Operations, which designed the High Line in Manhattan, an elevated greenway on an old rail line.

The groundbreaking coincided with an announcement Wednesday by the federal Environmental Protection Agency that it had reached an agreement with Occidental Chemical Corporation to begin cleaning up an 8.3-mile stretch of the Passaic River from Newark Bay to the Newark-Belleville border, which includes the stretch that runs past the park. Occidental would pay $165 million for preliminary work to begin the cleanup, which is estimated to cost a total of $1.38 billion.



Officials gathered for the groundbreaking literally applauded the EPA announcement when Martin shared word of it.



"Making the river clean and making this access has got to be tied together," Martin said. "And today, I know EPA Region II is announcing an agreement with Occidental, which we congratulate them on, a design for the cleanup of the river itself, so we thank them for that work. EPA, great job on that front."



Thomas Pankowicz, a 55-year-old Clifton resident, has worked for the past 20 years at Bell Containers, a corrugated box business on Ferry Street, a few blocks from the river. Until the park opened, Pankewicz said he never ventured over to the waterfront.

"I would stay in my office," he said as he paused on the yellow boardwalk that highlights Phase 2. "Stay at my desk."



Pankowicz said he was discouraged by some crudely spray-painted graffiti near the boardwalk, and the dozens of empty soda bottles floating in the river between a dock and a bulkhead. But otherwise, he said, the park had made a dramatic difference in his workday.

"Sometimes I eat lunch here, sometimes I just come for a walk," he added. "It's a beautiful stretch of waterfront."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.