Board Members hope to present plan in the next two months
By: Michelle McGuinness
Revisions to the open space and recreation component of the township’s Master Plan, which includes a proposal to rearrange Millstone Park in order to add a new soccer field, are nearly complete and could be presented to the Planning Board by September, said board member Allan Kehrt.
The revisions have been in the works since the spring and include suggestions for a better balance of passive and active recreational facilities. If the Planning Board approves of the changes, the Township Committee will vote on whether or not they should be included in the township Master Plan and eventually implemented.
"We would like to get this out in front of the public in the next month or two," Mr. Kehrt said.
The Open Space and Recreation subcommittee held two public meetings, on July 17, 2006 and Oct. 18, during which residents brainstormed ideas and priorities that they thought should be included in the updated plan. The suggestions were then sent to Township Planner Richard Preiss, of Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates Inc. in Red Bank and New York City.
Mr. Kehrt said one of the recommendations in the plan proposes reorganizing Millstone Park on Old Trenton Road so that an extra soccer field could be added.
"It’s very inefficiently laid out right now," he said.
Plans to expand the park’s parking lot also will be included in the recommendations, according to Mr. Kehrt, as is building a fence between Old Trenton Road and the park to prevent children from running into the street.
The plan also recommends that a footpath on Maplewood Avenue that allows access to Village Park be kept intact.
Mr. Kehrt said people can access the park through a path that goes over a piece of vacant property on Maplewood Avenue. The issue, Mr. Kehrt said, is that Cranbury Housing Associates may want to build an affordable housing unit there.
Mr. Kehrt said constructing affordable housing and creating access to Village Park at the location are both possible.
The recommendations also include providing handicapped access to facilities throughout Cranbury, and improving the dirt road that allows access to soccer fields behind the Cranbury School from North Main Street.
The report doesn’t recommend adding lighting to recreation fields throughout Cranbury because the sports fields are primarily used during the day.
"The general feeling and the recommendation in the study is really no extra night lighting," Mr. Kehrt said.
Mr. Kehrt said the plan is only a recommendation and must be approved by the Township Committee.
He said the plan could take years to fully implement, though some of the recommendations could be completed in the short term.
"This is a report, a plan," he said. "It’s not an implementation, but it is a plan that will hopefully be implemented by the Township Committee."

