Thompson Park land swap appeal is denied by state Superior Court.
By: William Greenwood
MONROE The Appellate Division of the state Superior Court has rejected an appeal challenging approvals for a land swap that would pave the way for a new high school in Thompson Park.
The appeals panel ruled Friday in Trenton against the plaintiffs the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, New Jersey Public Interest Research Group and Park Savers, a local group opposing the proposal on all counts.
The groups were hoping to stop a proposed swap of properties between Middlesex County and Monroe Township that would allow a new high school to be built on a 35-acre portion of the park.
In their complaint, the environmental groups argued that Middlesex County’s application for the swap was incomplete and inadequate, that it was inappropriate for the state Department of Environmental Protection commissioner and the State House Commission to grant conditional approvals, that it was inappropriate for them to delay a determination of whether the historic Bethel Mission was located on the proposed high school site until completion of a later review process, that public hearings on the application were conducted prematurely, that the township’s cluster-
zoning ordinance is not consistent with the Municipal Land Use Law, and that the replacement parcels to be given to the county were protected by Green Acres restrictions.
The DEP is reviewing the swap, which has conditional approval from the Statehouse Commission. State approval is needed because the park was preserved with Green Acres money.
An archaeological survey conducted on the proposed high school site by Richard Grubb and Associates, a Cranbury company, was completed last month and has been sent to the state. The company’s final report states that the Bethel Mission, an 18th-century community of Leni Lenape converted to Christianity by Presbyterian minister David Brainerd, is not located there.
If final approval is granted, Monroe would transfer 175 acres of open land to the county for the Thompson Park parcel. The township then would transfer the 35-acre parcel to the Board of Education, which wants to build a 365,000-square-foot high school there. An $82.9 million referendum for the project was approved in 2003.
The appeal was filed by the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, New Jersey Public Interest Research Group and Park Savers. It was argued March 13 in Trenton.
See The Cranbury Press on Friday for a more in-depth story on the decision.