Township and Board of Education officials make first step in getting high school in Thompson Park.
By: Rebecca Tokarz
MONROE The township has made its pitch to the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders about using 35 acres of Thompson Park to build a new high school.
The presentation made by the township and Board of Education officials is the first step toward getting approvals to acquire the land. The district has proposed building a $82.9 million high school on the property, which is adjacent to the current high school.
If approved by the freeholders, the township must approach the state Green Acres Program and the State House Commission, which meets quarterly for approval. Approvals could take between six and nine months.
In return for the property, the township would swap 77 acres of land on Route 522 near School House Road. The land is divided into three parcels 9 acres, 44 acres and 24 acres.
The freeholders asked questions about the presentation, but saved comments and their vote on the proposal for Thursday after the deadline for The Cranbury Press.
Freeholder John Pulomena asked about the equity of the township’s proposal.
"I’m a little confused about what would bring equity to this," he said.
Freeholder Pulomena also asked if township officials had looked into the availability of obtaining a 50-acre tract that’s more contiguous to Thompson Park than the proposed 77 acres.
He said adding the 50-acre tract to the proposal would make a swap "much more equitable and profitable."
Township Engineer Ernie Feist said Monday the 50-acre parcel has been on the township and county’s Open Space Acquisition wish list for some time, but the township had not pursued because of its estimated cost, which Mr. Feist put at between $12 million and $15 million.
Mr. Feist said Tuesday that while he appreciated Freeholder Pulomena’s comments, he believed the property was too costly for the township to purchase on its own, let alone add to the proposed swap.
"We believe the 77 acres is more than enough in terms of financial value and useable value," Mr. Feist said Tuesday.
He said Tuesday the township would be interested in acquiring the tract in conjunction with the county for open space, where the county would pay for a majority of the cost and the township would cover the remainder.
Freeholder H. James Polos asked Mr. Feist about a letter from state Department of Environmental Protection in July to county Department of Parks and Recreation officials stating that Monroe would need to show ample proof that all other land options had been considered prior to settling on the Thompson Park site in order for the matter to proceed.
"Can you meet that criteria?" Freeholder Polos asked.
Mr. Feist said the township looked at several sites throughout the township prior to a defeated Sept. 2002 school expansion referendum and during a second search prior to the approval of the new high school plan in December. During the searches, they found that many of the few sites available were undesirable because they lacked water and sewer hookups and others had wetlands on the properties. Providing the needed connections would cost the district millions of dollars, officials said.
"The south (end of town) is protected under 6-acre zoning laws and has been excluded from water and sewer lines, the middle portion of the township, much of it has been preserved for open space and the western portion is where the PRCs are," he said.
"I think we can meet the conditions set out in that letter," he said Monday.
Freeholder Jane Z. Brady asked Mr. Feist if there would be enough land in the township should the district need another school in the future.
Mr. Feist said elementary schools can be built on smaller parcels and it would be possible.
However, he said if the high school is not built on the Thompson Park property, the district would have to find a 100-acre parcel to build on because a new site would require athletic fields. The other option would be to bus athletes from the new high school site to the Perrineville Road facility.
"A 100-acre parcel served by water and sewer that isn’t constrained by the environment is hard to find in Monroe," he said.
The district’s 365,000-square-foot high school will house 1,800 students, and would be constructed to accommodate additions that could bring the building’s total capacity to 2,700, school officials have said.
Once built, the current high school on Perrineville Road would become a middle school. The two schools would form a campus-like atmosphere where athletic fields and the Richard P. Marasco Center for Performing Arts at the current high school would be used by both schools. Applegarth Middle School on Applegarth Road would become the district’s fifth elementary school.