Developers propose 22-field complex on township-owned open space
By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE Developers pitched a plan to turn 153 acres of preserved open space near the high school into a multi-sport complex with 22 athletic fields suitable for hosting national tournaments for youth, high school and college teams.
Tom Troy, senior vice president of Sharbell Development Corp., and Jim Barsalona, one of the principals of Elite Showcases LLC, presented a concept plan at the Oct. 11 Township Council meeting. Robbinsville owns the preserved land needed for the project and the developers want the town to offer them a long-term lease.
”This is a very sophisticated high-end complex that we think will bring national caliber, and certainly regional caliber tournaments,” Mr. Troy said.
The outdoor fields for softball, soccer and lacrosse tournaments would complement the operations of the proposed 200,000-square-foot indoor field house that Sharbell/Elite is seeking to build 2.3 miles away in the Town Center South redevelopment area. Both the indoor and outdoor facilities would serve as an economic catalyst for the development of new hotels, restaurants and other businesses in Robbinsville and the Mercer County area, Mr. Troy said.
Mr. Barsalona, who is also the northeast regional director of Premier Girls Fastpitch softball, said the organization’s 2014 regional tournament involving 130 to 140 teams could be held in Robbinsville if the outdoor facility were ready then. As additional hotel rooms are built in the Mercer County region in the years ahead, larger national tournaments could be brought to Robbinsville as well, he said.
Two-week regional tournaments involving 150 or so teams bring thousands of people into the area and pump $9 million to $16 million into the local and regional economy, Mr. Barsalona said. The out-of-town visitors stay at hotels in the region, eat at local restaurants near the sports complex and shop in nearby stores.
The Sharbell/Elite concept plan shows 12 full-size softball fields divided in three quads of four fields each, five soccer fields, and five lacrosse fields. There would also be an 8,000-square-foot building for administrative offices, clubhouse and equipment storage, five concession/restroom buildings, and parking for 2,027 cars in gravel lots that would be interspersed throughout the athletic complex.
The outdoor complex would be located on a swath of open space that starts at the corner of Line and Robbinsville-Edinburg roads and extends south as far as Robbinsville High School. The township purchased this land, known locally as the Thompson tract, for $8.8 million three years ago, to stop construction of 49 single-family homes with septic systems. The township’s Open Space Trust Fund was used to pay for the purchase.
Mr. Troy said turning preserved open space into athletic fields is “certainly within the context of the current (state) regulations that would apply to that type of a property.” However, the developers would also need the state to OK extending sewer lines to the property, which is not in a designated sewer service area.
Township Engineer Tim McGough told the Township Council this was not an insurmountable obstacle.
”The policy at DEP is they will not allow open space to be added to a sewer service area, however, I have had informal conversations with them and they would certainly look at this as a special condition,” Mr. McGough said. “We would have to just work through the process.”
Mr. Troy also said that extension of sewer lines to the area for the sports complex would also be a direct benefit to the older homes on Robbinsville-Edinburg Road and Buckley Lane where the septic systems are failing.
”One way or another we’re going to have to get sewer to this project,” Mr. Troy said. “And there’s no reason in the world why we can’t loop through and make that sewer available to the people who are between where the sewer is now and where the sewer has to go” to reach the sports complex.
Mr. Troy said Sharbell/Elite would be setting up meetings with residents of Robbinsville-Edinburg Road and Buckley Lane to discuss the proposal. There will also be meetings soon with Mercer County officials because Robbinsville-Edinburg Road is a county road (Route 526).
”We are very much of aware of the need to mitigate the impact that would come with a project like this,” Mr. Troy said. Games on the 22 fields would have staggered start times to minimize the traffic impact, and there would be extensive landscape screening and large berms, especially on interior parcels closest to the backyards of the homes on small lots fronting Robbinsville-Edinburg Road.
Township Councilman Vince Calcagno, noting the various challenges associated with the Robbinsville-Edinburg Road site, asked why Sharbell/Elite didn’t build the project on the Gordon-Simpson tract, a 439-acre parcel that Sharbell already owns near Gordon Road and Route 130. Gordon-Simpson is already approved for sewer service, has easy access to a state highway, and is not as close to a residential area as the Robbinsville-Edinburg Road site.
”We looked very closely at that Vince and there’s not enough contiguous land on Gordon,” Mr. Troy replied. “It’s a big piece, but almost half of it is wetlands and the wetlands doesn’t happen in one spot, it happens throughout the site. Intuitively you would say it should fit, but we looked at it and it doesn’t.”
Mr. Troy also noted the Robbinsville-Edinburg site is closer to the indoor field house that Sharbell-Elite has proposed in the Town Center South redevelopment area on the south side of Route 33 near Robbinsville-Edinburg Road.
”There really is a nexus between this (outdoor) facility and the indoor facility,” Mr. Troy said. “The closer we can get the two of them together the easier the operational aspects happen.”
Mr. Barsalona described the indoor facility as an “athletic Chuck E. Cheese’s” modeled after the successful Virginia Beach Field House that draws 95 percent of its customers from with 35 minutes of the facility. The field house will have facilities for soccer, flag football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, field hockey and dodge ball; training tunnels, a food and beverage area for 230 people; large TV screens; and 12 party rooms.
The indoor facility would employ 60 people and offer programming for all ages, not just children, Mr. Barsalona said. He said Elite wanted to be a good neighbor to Robbinsville and would offer the occasional use of the party rooms to community groups as meeting space during off-peak hours.
”We want to give back as much as we can to the township,” Mr. Barsalona said. “There are 12 party rooms. We can set aside these rooms once a month for people to use at no charge.”
Mr. Troy also spoke of the benefits the outdoor facility on Robbinsville-Edinburg Road could bring to the school district, whose high school baseball fields border the proposed outdoor athletic complex.
”One of the things that Jim has started looking into is the potential to upgrade some of the existing baseball facilities at the high school,” Mr. Troy said. “Because of the adjacency, there may be opportunities where not only does the high school get the benefit of having these caliber fields to play on, but also they may get the benefit of an upgrade to some of its facilities that are already there.”
No formal plans have been submitted to the township’s land use boards to date. Mayor Dave Fried said afterward he was not taking a position on the proposal yet and wanted to hear what residents thought about the plan.

