Town to buy 8 acres next to cemetery

By: Rebecca Weltmann
   WASHINGTON — Despite opposition, the Township Council voted to approve an ordinance for a $1.14 million bond designed to acquire 8 of 16 acres abutting a Gordon Road cemetery that officials want to convert into community soccer fields.
   The bond proposal is part of a deal involving the Diocese of Trenton, which owns the 16-acre parcel, and Princeton Memorial Park, which is set to buy the other half of the land.
   Though the council approved the plan at its Feb. 22 meeting, it was met with strong opposition from people who have loved ones buried in that cemetery.
   "The council seems to have forgotten the faces of what this plan is about," said Mary Danielsen-Van Osten as she held up a photograph of her 22-year-old nephew, who died in 2005. "This is the face of someone who died too young. This person is buried in that cemetery."
   Ms. Danielsen-Van Osten, of Tasley Court in Robbinsville, voiced her concerns to the council about having soccer fields too close to the cemetery. She added that while she recognizes the township’s need for more recreation facilities, the township might have acted prematurely in acquiring the land.
   "I understand there is a bigger need for recreation facilities in the township, but they have not done the homework to define what their real purpose is for taking the land," she said. "If this administration had really listened to the will of the people who continually spoke out on behalf of their neighbors and friends, they would have realized there are way too many people who want it to remain a cemetery."
   The new plan does not disturb existing graves. Rather, it includes land that has not already been delegated for plots. Sonja Walter, council president, said it was never the intent of the council to desecrate the cemetery land.
   "I sympathize with their grief, but there are already Little League fields immediately adjacent where games are played on a regular basis," Ms. Walter said.
   Mayor David Fried said he understands people’s concerns and hopes that they can understand why the township moved forward with acquiring the land.
   "We did everything we could to make the process work," he said. "It wasn’t pretty and it could have been handled better."
   The land across from the cemetery has 12 soccer fields, and Mayor Fried said it would be convenient to expand in the same region.
   In addition to the bond for the land purchase, $60,000 in down payment for the land would come from the open space fund.