By: Bill Greenwood
MONROE The Township Council is set to vote on a resolution that officials say would help to expedite a land swap between Monroe and Middlesex County.
The resolution, which already has been passed by the county, would allow the township to trade 175 acres of undeveloped land for a 35-acre, Green Acres-protected parcel in Thompson Park where the Board of Education wants to build a new high school. The resolution would take effect when and if the state Department of Environmental Protection grants final approval for the swap.
The resolution would allow the township and county to execute the swap immediately after the DEP grants approval.
The swap received conditional approval from the State House Commission in January 2006, and a final sign-off from the DEP is required before the swap can proceed. That sign-off is expected to occur if an archaeological survey on the Thompson Park parcel reveals that the Bethel Mission was not located there. The mission was an 18th-century community of Leni Lenape converted to Christianity by Presbyterian minister David Brainerd.
Richard Grubb and Associates, the Cranbury company conducting the survey, reported in June that the mission was actually 2,500 feet north of the proposed high school site. However, the DEP ordered that more work be done on the site, and Grubb and Associates is expected to complete the new research by the end of next week.
Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said the county passed and the township agreed to vote on the resolution now in order to prevent further delays.
"This way we don’t have to wait for another resolution from both bodies," he said. "It’s just a way of accelerating the process."
The resolution also would require the township to pay the county, within 30 days of the resolution’s execution, $627,000 for a county project for park improvements and $500,000 for a new soccer complex at the intersection of Perrineville and Prospect Plains roads. The complex is to be completed no later than Jan. 4 unless the State House Commission allows a later date. The county would reimburse the $500,000 upon receiving an itemized breakdown of the costs for the complex.

