UPDATE: A previous version of this article erroneously stated that Trinity Hall’s enrollment was 50 students. It is actually 79 students. The article has been updated to reflect the actual enrollment.
Opponents of a proposal to build a campus for an all-girls high school will file an appeal of the Middletown Planning Board’s approval of the plan in state Superior Court.
The Planning Board passed a resolution at a Nov. 5 meeting approving a controversial plan to build the campus on 64 acres along Chapel Hill Road. The plan was submitted by Trinity Hall, an independent high school in the Catholic tradition.
The decision is a reversal of the board’s original denial of the application, which was invalidated by Superior Court Judge Paul Kapalko in an Oct. 24 ruling. Trinity Hall organizers had successfully filed suit to overturn the board’s denial.
Ron Gasiorowski, the attorney retained by opponents of Trinity Hall’s plan, said the Nov. 5 Planning Board meeting was held in violation of the Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL).
“Last night’s meeting was the best-kept secret in the world,” Gasiorowski said. “We’re obviously going to appeal it. It was an improper meeting because it was not held in accordance with the MLUL and it didn’t reflect Judge Kapalko’s order.”
However, Board Attorney James Gorman said the Planning Board did not have to comply with the MLUL because the action was taken at a public meeting and not a hearing — an important distinction.
“The Open Public Meetings Act requirements were complied with,” Gorman said. “Notices under MLUL were not required because it was not a hearing.
“Right now, the Planning Board approved [Trinity Hall’s proposal].”
The approval, which allows Trinity Hall to move forward with the project at will, is a sudden reversal of the board’s previous decision.
That decision, which was rendered at a June 11 hearing, denied the application on grounds that it did not satisfy a township ordinance governing conditional uses. Several hearings on the application drew large, vocal crowds of opponents who cited potential traffic impacts and the school’s nonprofit, tax-exempt status as reasons why the proposed site plan should be denied.
Kapalko remanded the matter back to the Planning Board after invalidating the provisions the denial was based on in an Oct. 24 decision, and the board wasted little time returning an approval.
“The school is very pleased with the state court’s ruling and with the Planning Board’s approval of our application,” Sean Clifford, chair of the Trinity Hall Board of Trustees, said. “We believe that the school is, and will continue to be, a good neighbor and a point of pride for the township. Most importantly, we are excited for the girls of Trinity Hall.”
The school, which is not recognized by the Diocese of Trenton, has an enrollment of about 79 students — up from 30 students in 2013.
The Trinity Hall application would subdivide the Chapel Hill property into two lots, leaving 26.3 acres undeveloped.
The remaining land would be developed in four stages to house academic and administrative buildings, a gym, an indoor pool, a soccer field and running track, tennis courts, a field hockey facility, locker rooms, and a performing arts and chapel facility.
The application sought preliminary approval for all phases and final approval for the first phase, which would involve constructing classrooms and a gym totaling 64,620 square feet.
Trinity Hall is currently leasing space at Croydon Hall in Middletown and is seeking classroom space for the 2015-16 school year.