DEP orders more tests at park

Bethel site location still undetermined

By: Lacey Korevec
   MONROE — The state Department of Environmental Protection wants more tests done in Thompson Park.
   The DEP told the township on July 5 that it wants more archaeological testing of a 35-acre site in Thompson Park, slated to be the site of a new high school, to determine whether the Bethel Mission was located there, even though a previous study, done by Richard Grubb and Associates of Cranbury, determined that the mission was north of the proposed site.
   A letter from DEP Administrator Dorothy Guzzo to Assistant Township Attorney Peg Schaffer stated that the Grubb report was "extensive, but not entirely convincing" evidence that part of the settlement did not exist on that site.
   "After a critical reading of the Grubb report, we conclude that while the heart of the Bethel settlement was most likely located some distance to the north of the project area, it may not have been as far away as the Grubb report suggests, and that it may have been close enough that outlying parts of the settlement may have been within the project area," the letter stated.
   The township has been seeking the property in exchange for 175 acres of open space elsewhere in the township. However, since the Thompson Park land is Green Acres protected, final approval for the swap is needed from the DEP. If DEP approval is granted, the township will transfer the park site to the Board of Education.
   The State House Commission conditionally approved the transfer of the land in January 2006.
   An archaeological study of the Thompson Park site was required as part of the conditions and the DEP was expected to decide whether to grant approval after reviewing the results.
   In its final report issued in June, Richard Grubb and Associates stated the mission was located about 2,500 feet north of the Thompson Park parcel on which the high school is to be built.
   Ms. Schaffer said the decision to conduct more testing on the site is "bureaucratic overkill."
   "The DEP’s request for additional information is spurred, I think, by the objectors and other indications they’ve received from people who did not go out to the site and do archaeological digging," she said Thursday. "We’re hopeful at the end of the day our expert’s report is going to be conclusive. We’re going to spend more taxpayer dollars to reach the same conclusion, which is that the Bethel Indian town was not located at the project site."
   Opponents of the land swap sent letters and a petition to the state requesting the order for more testing. The petition said that the decision issued by the Appellate Division of state Superior Court in Trenton on June 1 misinterpreted the Municipal Land Use Law.
   The Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic filed an appeal in February 2006 on behalf of local group Park Savers and the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group in hopes of overturning the approval.
   The Appellate Division ruled unanimously against the plaintiffs on all counts on June 1. The law clinic had argued that the replacement parcels to be transferred to the county were already protected by Green Acres restrictions because they were designated as open space.
   Paul McEachen, the principal senior archaeologist for Richard Grubb and Associates, said it’s too early to determine when the process will begin and how long it will take. He said the study needs to be reviewed and approved by the DEP before it can get under way.
   "It will happen as expeditiously as possible upon approval of the Phase II work plan by the NJDEP," he said. "It has to be approved and reviewed by the DEP, so I’m hesitant to say how long its going to take until they approve it."
   Ms. Schaffer said that she is frustrated that the decision will further delay the process, especially after the township received State House approval and went up against an appellate challenge.