EDITORIAL
By:Ruth Luse
Valley citizens who want the facts about the proposed Valleywide recreation complex should attend the Sept. 26 meeting of the Recreation Roundtable – the group responsible for the creation of the plan. We urge residents who have questions to ask them at this session, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the school board’s meeting room, 425 S. Main St., Pennington.
We know there is some confusion – and definitely some concern – about the recreation plan, judging from letters to the editor we received over the summer and from comments we have heard at recent school board and municipal meetings.
The following points might help citizens prepare their questions for the Sept. 26 meeting:
The Recreation Roundtable proposal has absolutely nothing to do with the school construction referendum that will go before Valley voters on Oct. 17. It is true that if the Oct. 17 bonding proposal is OK’d some existing Central High fields will be lost to new construction and would have to be reconstructed on another section of the high school property.
A reason the land at Timberlane Middle School is being considered for this recreation complex is that school leaders do not feel it can – now or in the future – handle another school building and population. One reason is that sewer and water services would be a problem. Another is that in 10 years the combined population of Timberlane and Central High School is projected to be close to 2,600. Think about that! That’s more people than either Hopewell Borough or Pennington Borough currently have in their entire towns. Imagine more than all of Pennington or all of Hopewell attending school on one site between Pennington-Harbourton Road and Pennington-Titusville Road 180 or so days a year. What if there were a third school?
That’s why school officials agreed not long ago to enable the recreation group to make future use of the 48 acres known as "Back Timberlane." Eventually, if that happens, a legal agreement between the landowner and the user will have to be made.
The school district also needs more fields. As Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education President Sally Turner recently said, "As a school district we need the fields … If we don’t do it as a partnership (using a plan like the Roundtable’s), the school board will do it on our own and then tax dollars will be spent on it." The Roundtable has received several promises of funding for the complex on its own. No tax dollars are involved in the proposal.
Board President Turner has figures showing the existing shortage of school district fields for both Central High and Timberlane fall and spring teams. Those figures should be available at the Sept. 26 session.
An assortment of knowledgeable people will be on hand Sept. 26 to respond to concerns, including: the engineer who planned the proposed complex, the Hopewell Township administrator, zoning officer and health official, and members of the Roundtable itself (including officials from the three municipalities, representatives of the recreation commissioners of the two boroughs, the schools superintendent and school board president, the school district athletic director, the executive director of the Hopewell Valley YMCA, and representatives of the various recreation/sports leagues in the Valley).
It seems clear that anyone who has a recreation complex proposal question should be able to get it answered at the Sept. 26 session.