Appellate Division decision could affect plan to build new high school in Thompson Park.
By: Bill Greenwood
MONROE The township is awaiting a decision that could affect whether or not a new high school is built in Thompson Park.
The Appellate Division of state Superior Court heard arguments Tuesday from attorneys Richard Webster, who represented the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, and Peg Schaffer, who represented the township, at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton, regarding a proposal to donate 172 acres of township-owned land to Middlesex County in exchange for a 35 county-owned acres in Thompson Park. The park has been selected as the site of a new a 365,000-square-foot high school.
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School board OKs easement MONROE The Board of Education has taken another step toward satisfying the State House Commission’s conditional approval for a proposed land swap between the township and Middlesex County. On Monday, the board approved a 5-foot-wide access easement that would run parallel to the Brookside School’s parking lot. It will link two parcels that straddle Route 522 to a 35-acre parcel in Thompson Park on Schoolhouse Road that would become the site of a proposed 365,000-square-foot high school. "The replacement parcels, which total about 172 acres, need to be contiguous to the existing proposed Thompson Park," school board attorney Bertram Busch said. The township wants to swap the replacement parcels for the Thompson Park parcel, where the board wants to build a new high school. The board still needs final approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection, which is expected to lift state Green Acres restrictions on the Thompson Park parcel if an archaeological survey reveals that the historic Bethel Mission is not located there. The Leni Lenape’s Bethel Mission is an 18th-century community of Leni Lenape who had been converted to Christianity by Presbyterian minister David Brained. The board also needs final approval from the state Department of Community Affairs on architectural drawings and schematics for the new high school. Mr. Busch said the board’s approval for the easement is subject to the receipt of a metes-and-bounds description, which is a written description of the boundary of a piece of property. It is being prepared by Amertech Engineering Inc., of New Brunswick, but Mr. Busch did not know when it would be finished. "I’m hoping very shortly," he said. Mr. Busch said the easement was required as a condition of the State House Commission’s January 2006 approval for the swap. Bill Greenwood |
Mr. Webster said he expected the court to make a decision within two to three months. Ms. Schaffer said she thought a decision could take anywhere from one to six months.
The hearing was part of an appeal filed Feb. 10, 2006, that seeks to overturn a unanimous decision by the State House Commission to approve the proposal. The appeal was filed by the Law Clinic on behalf of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, New Jersey Public Interest Research Group and the local Group, Park Savers. The appeal argues that the state Department of Environmental Protection ignored deficiencies in the county and township’s application for the swap. The land is protected by state Green Acres restrictions.
Mr. Webster argued that the alternatives analysis and environmental assessment submitted to the DEP were "inadequate." He also questioned the township’s cluster-zoning ordinance, which was used by the township to acquire the parcels being traded, and said there were problems with some of the replacement parcels.
However, Ms. Schaffer said there was nothing wrong with the application and defended the township’s cluster-zoning ordinance.
Mr. Webster said the DEP told the township in September 2005 that its alternatives analysis excluded several sites that should have been considered for the new high school. However, the organization then approved the analysis in December of that year.
"There was no new supplement," Mr. Webster said. "There was no new material. The DEP just changed its mind."
He said there was no justification behind the decision.
Mr. Webster also argued that the township’s environmental assessment "didn’t adequately deal with" the location of the Historic Bethel Mission, which may be on the Thompson Park parcel.
Richard Grubb and Associates, of Cranbury, is conducting an archaeological survey of the parcel to determine whether the mission is located there. The court asked to see the results of the survey as soon as they were available.
Mr. Webster also argued that the township’s cluster-zoning ordinance is in violation of the state’s municipal land-use law, which governs land use in the state, including how land dedicated to towns as a result of cluster zoning should be used. He said any such land should be used only for open space and not for public use, as the township’s ordinance allows.
"Provided the municipal use is an open space use, it’s fine, but if it’s a school use or something that’s not an open space use, then it’s not fine," he said.
Mr. Webster also said that there are problems with the replacement parcels being offered by the township. He argued that a 30-foot sewer easement on one of the parcels significantly lowers its value. He also argued that several of the parcels have conservation easements on them, meaning their respective developers had promised not to develop on that land.
However, Ms. Schaffer argued that there was nothing wrong with the township’s application for the swap. She said the alternatives analysis met all state requirements, adding that township officials and the ad hoc committee examined every possible site for the new high school and could not find another feasible location except Thompson Park.
"They factored in things like where it’s located, they factored in high tension wires, they factored in gas lines, they factored in whether utilities could be run to the site and decided that the only feasible site was the one in Thompson Park, and DEP agreed," Ms. Schaffer said.
She also argued that the township’s cluster-zoning ordinance was legal. She said the township has been operating under the ordinance for five or six years and that no one has challenged it until now.
The land being offered by the township is divided into several parcels that were acquired through the township’s cluster-zoning ordinance, which allows developers to transfer building rights from one piece of their property to another and requires them to donate the remaining land.
"When you give the developer an opportunity to put clusters of houses together, (the question is) whether you can accept the land that he has to dedicate to open space for public use or whether it has to just be open space," Ms. Schaffer said. "I think it’s pretty clear that it can be public use."
She also argued that there is nothing wrong with the replacement parcels and said the county stands to gain 137 acres of open space from the swap. She dismissed Mr. Webster’s assertion that the sewer easement on one of the parcels decreases its value, calling it "insignificant in terms of evaluation."
A condition of the approval is that the value of Monroe’s parcels must be of equal or greater value than that of the Thompson Park land.
She said the above ground sewer could be covered up or surrounded by trees, if necessary.
Ms. Schaffer also disputed Mr. Webster’s claim that conservation easements on several of the parcels prohibit development on the land. Ms. Schaffer said land must be actively used for and recognized as open space in order for it to be protected by Green Acres restrictions. Since the parcels are not being used in such a way, it is acceptable for the township to use them in the swap, Ms. Schaffer said.
She also told the court that the swap would save about 24,000 trees and provide a school for 2,700 children.

