Fried places blame on Malone

Dave Fried, Robbinsville mayor
   The Messenger-Press recently reported that Sharbell Development Corp. has filed an application to convert a project once designed for seniors to 120 market-rate units for families. Sharbell will take advantage of a 2009 law that will allow for such conversions, which despite promises to the contrary, seems destined to fulfill the fears of the mayors who opposed it at the time.
   As the reporter noted in her story, the project literally takes out the bocce courts and replaces them with tot lots. On the heels of a failed school referendum and talk of sending some children to empty classrooms in Millstone Township, the developer’s own application shows the prospect of more schoolchildren.
   I trust that the Planning Board will do its job and evaluate the application fairly and thoroughly. The conversion law calls for the board to deem the project complete unless doing so will be “a substantial detriment to the public good.” I will leave it to our capable board members and professionals to sort out what that means for Robbinsville.
   Many residents have asked me what I think of Sharbell’s application. In short, I’m frustrated but not surprised. Sharbell is making a business decision; its local leadership team has to respond to investors, who would have some explaining to do if they did not take advantage of the conversion law.
   That’s why I spoke out so loudly against the 2009 law when it was being debated, along with Mayor Bencivengo in Hamilton and Mayor Mironov in East Windsor. As Mayor Bencivengo said at the time, “We can’t afford one more kid.”
   That’s especially true in Robbinsville, where years of being shortchanged on school aid have left us dead last in Mercer County in per-pupil spending, despite ever-rising tax bills.
   So who do I hold responsible? The same person who has failed to solve our decade-old school aid problem: Assemblyman Joseph Malone III. Yes, it’s time to name names. Although he has had no solutions for the Robbinsville schools, Assemblyman Malone was all too happy to sponsor the bill that may allow Sharbell to turn the bocce courts into tot lots.
   I cannot, nor should I, predict what the Planning Board will do with this application. I expect that Sharbell, as a builder, will want to build. What I wish is that our assemblyman, our elected representative, had acted like one.
Dave Fried
Robbinsville mayor