Larger field complex envisioned

Sporting complex could be in the cards

By: Stephanie Brown
   MONROE — Plans for the relocation of soccer fields and possibly a new sporting complex across from the Concordia Shopping Center are in the making.
   The township engineer’s office will draw up plans for the relocation of about six soccer fields, which are currently located in Thompson Park, to a site park across from the Concordia Shopping Center on Perrineville Road, known as the Thompson Park extension.
   In addition, Township Engineer Ernie Feist said he is talking with Middlesex County about possibly creating a larger sporting/recreational complex at the same Perrineville Road location.
   Township officials say the six soccer fields have to be moved because they are located where the Board of Education plans to build a new high school. The soccer fields are expected to be ready in time for the 2007 fall soccer season.
   Relocation of those fields is a condition of the Statehouse Commission’s approval to exchange 35 acres of Middlesex County owned Thompson Park land, which is protected by the state Green Acres program, for 152 acres of township land. The township is also required to pay $1.127 million to the county to offset the difference in appraised value of the land it offered in the exchange.
   Township voters approved a $82.9 million referendum in December 2003 to build a 365,00-square-foot high school. School officials told the public that the price tag and plans were based on using the park parcel as the new high school location.
   Mr. Feist said the township is required to replace the fields, which are used by township and county leagues, and make a further investment in Thompson Park as a condition of the Statehouse Commission approval.
   Of the $1.127 million the township is required to pay the county, $500,000 will be used for replacement soccer fields and $627,000 will be used for general county park improvements, Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said. He said both items are part of the township’s 2006 municipal budget.
   The Township Council approved a resolution Monday in which Feist Engineering will be paid no more than $110,000 to prepare plans and specifications for the construction of the soccer fields, which will be located at the southeast corner of Perrineville and Prospect Plains roads.
   Mr. Feist said the plans could go out to bid in the early spring and construction could begin in the late spring/early summer. He said he anticipates the project to be completed by the fall, because as part of the Statehouse Commission’s condition, the construction cannot interrupt the soccer program.
   In an addition to the field relocation, Mr. Feist said he and the county have been discussing the possibility of an creating a sporting and recreational complex at the Perrineville Road site, which could include additional soccer fields (some possibly with artificial turf), lighting, baseball fields, concession stands, and restrooms.
   He said the future project would be mostly, if not entirely, funded by the county.
   He said that within the next 12 months there could be movement forward with that project.
   "The county has at least tentatively indicated that they are interested in pursuing that," Mr. Feist said.