BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer
Middlesex County has scheduled two public hearings on a controversial land swap proposal that would allow the construction of a new Monroe Township High School.
The hearings were the request of the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which is continuing to review a land swap preapplication from the township.
If approved, the township would acquire a 35-acre section of Thompson Park directly across School House Road from the current high school. In return, the county would receive 77 acres of township land adjacent to the park.
The public hearings in November and December can be expected to involve heated debates on the issue, which has been the subject of passionate arguments since it was first proposed more than two years ago.
Proponents of the deal state that since the current high school would become a middle school, it would share some facilities with the new high school, creating a “campus environment,” and would save taxpayer dollars because the school district would not have to purchase land for the high school.
Those opposed have expressed concern that the land swap is not an even exchange because of the contours of the land offered by the township, and that approving the application would set a dangerous precedent.
The county Board of Chosen Freeholders last week approved a resolution scheduling the public hearings for Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. in the high school’s Richard P. Marasco Performing Arts Center, and Dec. 6 at 4 p.m. in the freeholders meeting room in New Brunswick.
According to DEP press office Director Elaine Makatura, who said there remains no time frame on when a decision will be reached on the pre-application, the state will be listening carefully at the hearings.
“Whenever there is a proposal, there’s always the option to conduct a public hearing,” Makatura said. “It’s one component of the decision-making process, and that is to solicit public input.”
David Smith, team leader of the Bureau of Legal Services and Stewardship for Green Acres, sent a letter Sept. 26 to county Parks Director Ralph G. Albanir suggesting the county hold a public hearing. Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel said that Middlesex County Counsel Thomas Kelso then advised the board to schedule two meetings on the subject.
Crabiel said he could not speculate on the effect the meetings will have on the final decision for the pre-application, but that it is appropriate to gauge public opinion on such a matter.
“I could not understand anybody being opposed to the public hearings,” Crabiel said.
But some can. Jennifer Dressel, township resident and member of the citizens group Park Savers, said the pre-application is incomplete and the appraisals of the land in question have not been certified.
She said the hearings could turn into a rally in support of the new high school, which misses the point of having the meetings in the first place.
“The public hearing is supposed to be whether or not to let this 35 acres of park land go,” Dressel said. “It’s not the issue of, ‘We need a school.’ Everybody knows we need a school.”
Dressel is opposed to the land swap itself. She said the 77 acres is flood hazard land that has been designated for open space and could not be developed regardless of whether it becomes part of the park.
“There is no additional acreage being added to Thompson Park. We’re having a net loss,” Dressel said, “because that 77 acres of property is already open space, and it can’t be built upon. If it could be built upon, they could have built the high school there.”
Dressel cited a letter from Susan Kraham of the Environmental Law Clinic at Rutgers University School of Law, which was published on the Park Savers Web site. The letter is addressed to Smith and states that the proposal is inadequate, noting that the 77 acres is “disconnected, inaccessible, wet, sloped land.”
Township resident Michele Arminio said the hearings are politically motivated. She said there were five objectors at last week’s freeholders meeting when the hearings were approved, but no members of the public voiced any support for the hearings.
Crabiel said the public hearings will give everyone a fair shot at making their point, Crabiel said.
Superintendent of Schools Ralph Ferrie agreed, and said that he will be attending the hearings. While it is known that DEP representatives will be in attendance, Ferrie said he was unsure how the public input will be measured or the weight residents’ views would be given in the DEP’s eventual decision.
“I think anytime people have the opportunity publicly to voice their opinion about an issue, that’s a healthy thing,” Ferrie said.