EDITORIAL: Committee’s plan addresses the concerns of all residents.
No plan is perfect.
That’s the case with a proposal by the mayor and the Township Council in Monroe to allow construction of a new high school on a portion of Thompson Park in exchange for land elsewhere.
It is a plan with both benefits it would reduce the cost of a proposed school expansion plan and net about 35 preserved acres to the township and drawbacks it would eliminate a chunk of a county park currently used for soccer fields.
It also is a plan with both supporters the council, the school board, some of the seniors who opposed the last referendum and detractors a group of residents calling themselves Park Savers and others who see preserved parkland as sacrosanct.
We have to side with the supporters on this one. This was not an easy decision. Thompson Park, as opponents of the trade have said, is a jewel. But the need for the high school and net gain in preserved land outweigh the loss of the soccer fields.
The plan is fairly straight-forward: 35 acres in Thompson Park on Perrineville and School House roads would be deeded over to the school board, which would construct a new, 365,000-square-foot high school to accommodate 1,800 students, convert the current high school into a middle school and provide for other renovation work at a cost of $82.9 million. In exchange, the township would acquire a 77-acre parcel of woodland off Buckelew Avenue near School House Road currently slated for 60 houses, and turn it over to the county. The developer would then get the right to cluster a greater number of houses on other property it owns. The fields would then be moved to a portion of the already preserved Bank of China tract.
The council and school board have approved the plan, which now needs approval from the Middlesex County freeholders and the state Green Acres program, which funded the purchase of Thompson Park. That could take up to nine months.
In a perfect world, we would prefer a plan that would not use already preserved parkland. But this is not a perfect world. Township schools are bursting at the seams and more classrooms are needed. Other plans would be significantly more expensive, because they would require purchase of a much larger parcel.
This plan is attractive because the proposed high school is across the street from the existing high school, removing the need for new fields, a new performing arts center and other core facilities. Under the proposal, these could be shared by the high school and middle school. That translates into a savings of about $30 million in land and construction costs not exactly small change.
In addition, the plan allows the district to keep its high school and middle school in a central location, which should reduce some transportation costs. Currently, the district sends all of its middle school kids to the Applegarth School, located in the southwestern-most corner of the township.
Critics say the council is pandering to seniors with this plan. We can’t argue with that. But seniors are an important constituency and it is important that a school plan be crafted that can win their support. Seniors overwhelmingly voted against the last referendum, citing its cost ($112 million) and the location of a proposed middle school (near the Applegarth School). This plan addresses those concerns.

