By: Stephanie Prokop
CHESTERFIELD The Township Committee is working on a plan to purchase two adjacent parcels of land, one on Fenton Lane and another on Bordentown-Chesterfield Road, but could not confirm this week whether that land was being eyed for a potential school building.
Committeeman Larry Durr said the committee doesn’t yet know the exact price that would be paid for the two parcels, but the proposed bond ordinance to fund the purchase is for $1.7 million.
The committee introduced the ordinance Feb. 22 and will hold a public hearing on March 22.
According to Township Clerk Bonnie Haines, the Fenton Lane parcel is 42 acres and the Bordentown-Chesterfield Road parcel is 27.5 acres.
Mr. Durr said the current owner of both tracts of land is Weston Fuchs, of North Brunswick, Middlesex County.
Early this year township officials had said they would be working with the school board to find a suitable site for a possible new elementary school. Mr. Durr said this week that the land was being slated for "municipal use."
Since the committee is still in negotiations with the owner, Mr. Durr said that he could not comment any further on the possible acquisition.
The school board intends for a third time to ask voters to approve a school referendum this December. A $17.5 million referendum was defeated in December 2003 with a vote count of 462-200, and a $19 million referendum was defeated in December 2005 with a margin of 432-272. In June 2006, the board said it was looking into negotiations to buy a 48-acre property on Chesterfield-Crosswicks Road and the Wilkinson Farm on Old York Road, according to Committeeman Michael Hlubik, but that plan did move forward. The property is designated in the town’s Master Plan as a possible school site.
Chesterfield Elementary School has seen a surge in enrollment since a total of 1,100 houses are being constructed for the receiving are under the township’s Transfer of Development Rights program.
School board President Craig Thier said even if voters approved the referendum in December, a new school would not be able to open its doors until December 2010.
At the budget meeting on Feb. 27, the Board of Education unanimously approved the superintendent’s recommendation to send some students to the Clarence B. Lamb School in North Hanover next year due to the lack of space in the current elementary school building.
Superintendent of Chesterfield Schools Constance Bauer said that a "definite" agreement was reached at the Monday night school board meeting to bus first- and second-grade students to the Clarence B. Lamb School in North Hanover.
When asked about what land was being considered for a new school, Dr. Bauer said, "I have no information on that at this point."