Residents voiced their opinions on the proposal to exchange 152 acres of undeveloped land owned by Monroe for a 35-acre parcel of county-owned Thompson Park.
By: Leon Tovey
MONROE The first of two public hearings on the proposed Thompson Park land diversion was a microcosm of the larger process thus far: a drawn-out, often-contentious debate over the best way to balance the needs of the township’s growing school-age population with the proper use of public land.
Seventy of the more than 600 people who attended the nearly five-hour hearing voiced their opinions on the township and Middlesex County’s proposal to exchange 152 acres of undeveloped land owned by the township for a 35-acre parcel of county-owned Thompson Park.
The Board of Education wants to build a new, 365,000-square-foot high school on the parcel, which is located directly across Schoolhouse Road from the current high school.
Comments were limited to five minutes per person. While nearly all of those who spoke acknowledged the township’s need for a new school, the differences in opinion between the 45 people who spoke in favor and the 25 who spoke in opposition were so vast that it seemed at times as if they were talking about different proposals.
"As a legislator and an attorney, I must say that this application seems to meet the intent of the (Green Acres land diversion) process as required by law," Democratic Asssemblywoman Linda Greenstein said, echoing earlier comments by her fellow 14th District state representative, Republican Assemblyman Bill Baroni.
A dozen township officials and employees, among them Mayor Richard Pucci and School Superintendent Ralph Ferrie, agreed, citing concerns about overcrowding at the current 187,000-square-foot high school and arguing that the land being offered in exchange is superior from an environmental standpoint than the 35 acres.
That point was disputed by opponents of the swap, among them Sunil Somalwar, a member of the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club and Richard Webster, an attorney for the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, which is representing local group Park Savers in opposition to the swap. The two men questioned the legality of the swap and the quality of the replacement land and Dr. Somalwar warned that the precedent set by approving the swap could lead to a "treeless Garden State."
In response, Joe Montanti, township environmental commissioner and Planning Board member, asked rhetorically where the Sierra Club was in the early 1990s, when he and other township residents were fighting to prevent approval of a development on what later became known as the Bank of China property. That 830-acre tract was purchased by the state and the county and added to Thompson Park in 2001.
"I do not recall the Sierra Club being here to help when I went knocking door-to-door handing out fliers on that deal," Mr. Montanti said. "If this is a precedent, good; if other towns in the county want to do this, let them offer 4.43 acres in exchange, as we have done."
No Green Acres officials attended the hearing; it was overseen by First Deputy County Counsel Eric Aranowitz, County Parks and Recreation Director Ralph Albanir and Peg Schaffer of Shain, Schaffer and Rafanello, the law firm the represents the township. Comments were taped and recorded by a court reporter until 11 p.m., when the reporter, citing exhaustion, left the hearing after the third break.
Throughout the hearing, residents on both sides of the debate (literally opponents sat almost exclusively on the right side of the Marasco Center, while proponents sat on the left side) cheered raucously each time someone from their camp made a point.
Theresa Simmons of Saddle Court, who moved from England to Monroe two months ago largely because of the reputation of the school system, she said drew wild applause when she expressed the frustrations of many parents.
"I have not come this far to see my children educated in overcrowded trailers," she said, referring to the 31 portable classrooms around the district that the board has purchased to meet increased enrollment. "You have to approve this."
Proponents also cheered Russell Boyd of Pheasant Lane when said he came to the hearing with an open mind, but after listening to nearly three hours of testimony, had begun to support the plan. He dismissed opponents’ lamenting the loss of soccer fields.
"You hear them say, ‘I see people chipping golf balls, I see kids playing soccer,’" Mr. Boyd said. "Well my son, who’s 5 years old, plays in the park, on those fields and I think we should do (the swap)."
Opponents cheered Doug Brown of East Brunswick when he reminded those in attendance that Thompson Park was a county park. Responding to frequent comments by supporters of the plan about the $82.9 million referendum approved by Monroe voters in 2003, Mr. Brown of East Brunswick summed up the sentiments of the half-dozen nontownship residents of Middlesex County who spoke during the hearing.
"You people made a mistake by not planning for growth and that’s not the county’s problem, that’s your problem," Mr. Brown said. "I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how the voters approved this. I couldn’t vote on this, people in Jamesburg, they couldn’t vote on this and their kids go to school here. If you want county land, why don’t we send it to the county for a vote?"
The lone Jamesburg resident to speak at the hearing, Rich Verasca, also opposed the swap. Comparing the township’s offer of 152 acres to a man offering six shiny pennies to a child in exchange for one dingy quarter, Mr. Verasca, a father of two, argued that allowing the diversion would harm future open space preservation efforts across the state.
"Do (I and my family) support a new high school? You bet we do but not in the park," he said. "If this goes forward, people will have second and third thoughts about voting for open space initiatives in the future."
The divisiveness of the issue was even apparent in the comments of people who know the current high school best.
Grant Herring, a current senior, and Simranjeet Sran, the valedictorian of the Class of 2005 who is now a freshman at Rutgers University, spoke passionately in favor of the proposal, invoking images of overcrowded science labs and students choosing between sharing a locker or lugging their books around all day.
But Steve Madzelewski, another member of the high school’s cClass of 2005, criticized the plan’s campus approach, under which the current high school would become the new middle school and the two schools would share athletic fields and parking.
It was this move that allowed Board of Education officials to cut some $30 million from a defeated 2002 referendum for the new school under the current plan. But Mr. Madzelewski, in his opposition to the plan, cited concerns about bullying, peer pressure and drugs as a reason to keep younger students from mixing with older ones.
Testimony from the hearing, along with another one scheduled for 4 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Freeholders Meeting Room in the County Administration Building in New Brunswick, will be reviewed by Green Acres officials. If Green Acres approves the swap, the deal would still need the approval of the State House Commission.
But regardless of what officials decide, the swap has been and will remain a divisive issue for residents, as pointed out by Carlos Lopez, a Republican who ran for the Ward 3 Township Council seat earlier this year.
Mr. Lopez, who was the final person to speak at the hearing, served as a member of the ad hoc committee that recommended the land-swap proposal. He prefaced his comments by lambasting township officials for not planning for a new high school a decade ago.
"But now there’s just one solution and it was the best we could come up with," Mr. Lopez said. "I’m thinking now about our kids. Let’s get this done."

