By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD The Township Committee is ready to move forward with a $1.17 million improvement plan for the 30-acre Reed Recreation Park that includes two paved parking areas, bathrooms and storage facilities, and a perimeter walking path that will encircle multipurpose athletic fields.
The Township Committee on May 5 directed Municipal Clerk Dana Tyler to prepare a resolution for its May 19 meeting that, when approved, would authorize T&M Associates to apply for state environmental permits and begin the design work for the project. The concept plan’s various components could be prioritized and built in phases, depending on the availability of grant money to defray the cost.
The township purchased the former Reed Sod Farm property in 2004 and since then it’s served as a rudimentary athletic field for softball and lacrosse games. The site is often wet, lacks sufficient parking, and has no indoor restrooms or handicapped access to the fields for disabled parents or grandparents.
Mark Bramble, a member of the township’s Recreation Committee, called the concept plan a “no-frills” project and urged the Township Committee to authorize spending the entire $1.17 million to do all components of the proposal at once, instead of phasing in the various components of the project over time.
”My recommendation is no phases; we need all of that parking and we need that trail,” Mr. Bramble said. “We have people that can’t get to see their sons and grandsons and granddaughters play because of no access to the fields for elderly and handicapped individuals.”
”We need a decent facility,” agreed Jay Stefanowicz, of Sleepy Hollow Court. Developing the site for multipurpose recreational fields would provide “what the township needs versus a lot for the geese to live on,” he said.
Safety at the existing site is a concern, said John Masserini, the president of the Allentown Upper Freehold Athletic Association’s Dragons Lacrosse League, which has grown from 30 children in 2007 to 120 players today. The lack of sufficient parking causes some parents to stop their cars on the Route 526 Bypass so their children can get out and run across the road to the playing fields, he said.
Patrick Jeffries, of T&M Associates, told the committee that the design, inspection and contract administration costs are expected to total $125,000 and that construction expenses are projected at $1,044,750. Mr. Jeffries estimated it would take between six and seven months to obtain the necessary environmental permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The earliest the fields could be ready is in 2012 assuming all goes as planned, he said.
The proposed configuration of the recreation fields, parking areas and bathroom building in the concept plan are constrained by state wetlands regulations, Mr. Jeffries said. Dugouts, benches, a dirt infield, parking lots, buildings or septic fields cannot be located within any area that is wetlands, according to DEP regulations.
Once permits are obtained, DEP will require the township to relocate the existing softball field farther back from Route 526 so that a water detention basin and an L-shaped, paved parking lot with 118 spaces can be built at the corner.
A second water detention basin next to a square parking lot with 115 parking spaces will be constructed farther north on the bypass road, closer to the section of the property where the lacrosse teams now play. The lot will provide access to four multipurpose athletic fields that will be used primarily for lacrosse games, but also could be used for soccer games or football practices as well.
A 6-foot-wide paved walking path will connect the two parking areas and continue along the perimeter of the property to give pedestrians access to all of the fields, the restrooms and possibly a dry goods-only snack bar.
Township CFO Dianne Kelly told the Township Committee the project would require a capital bond ordinance of between $700,000 and $1.2 million, depending on how successful the municipality is in obtaining grants. The debt service would run between $95,000 and $150,000 a year over a 10-year period, depending on how much is borrowed and the interest rate, Ms. Kelly said.
The township could apply for a federal Community Development Block Grant of up to $250,000 with no local match required to help defray the cost of the project, as well as a Monmouth County Municipal Open Space Grant. The latter also is available in amounts of up to $250,000 but requires a 50 percent local match and can’t be used for “soft costs,” such as architect and engineering fees, she said.
”Even if we do get a grant, we’re going to have to go to a bonding situation,” Ms. Kelly said. “We would bond through the Open Space Trust Fund using the open space tax that we have, the 6-cent tax,” Ms. Kelly said. “Obviously, if we’re bonding for recreation then it means we have less money available of that tax to use for the acquisition of farmland development easements.”
Township Committeeman Steve Alexander said the goals of recreation and farmland preservation were not mutually exclusive.
”I don’t think going forward with this project is choosing (recreation) as a priority over farmland preservation or preserving open space,” Mr. Alexander said.
”But I do think there comes a time when we have to make a decision as to the development of the lands that we have already purchased for their usefulness.”
Mr. Alexander noted that the current $1.1 million price tag for the development of Reed Recreation Park has dropped considerably since the project was first proposed four years ago at a cost of $1.9 million.
”This is the striking price now,” Mr. Alexander said. “I don’t see that $1.1 million (cost) getting any cheaper.”

