BY MAURA DOWGIN
Staff Writer
EDISON — The township is looking into the possibility of purchasing Oak Crest Swim Club in cooperation with a local chapter of the YMCA.
The Township Council, at its Dec. 10 regular meeting, unanimously introduced an ordinance that would allow the town to purchase the swim club, located just west of the intersection of Inman Avenue and Grove Avenue, sometime in the future.
The swim club has been run by the Metuchen/Edison/Woodbridge YMCA for the past seven years, but is owned by a group of bond holders, said William Lovett, chief executive officer of the YMCA.
"We are working in cooperation with Edison Township," Lovett said. "Our relationship with Edison is very positive and we’re all on the same page on what we want to get done."
The township is looking to "help the ‘Y’ preserve the property with us," said Louis Rainone, township attorney.
The township, YMCA and owners are still negotiating a price for the land, said Jonathan Capp, township business administrator.
The YMCA was given a $500,000 state Green Acres grant to purchase the property four years ago, Lovett said. The state agreed to hold the grant until the YMCA found a way to buy the land, he added.
The YMCA believes that partnering with the township is the right way to purchase the property, he said.
The township is hoping to strike a deal with the YMCA in which the township bonds for the money and the YMCA leases the property for the exact amount of the bond payments, Capp said. Therefore, there is no cost to the township.
The township and the YMCA are also discussing who would own the property after the bond is paid, Rainone said.
The bond holders "have been entertaining offers to develop the property," Rainone said.
The township would rather help preserve the property as open space than allow more development be put up, said Councilman Charles Tomaro.
The owners have "explored what their options were for selling the property," Lovett said.
The 14-acre property is currently used by the YMCA for its children’s day camp and as an outdoor pool club, Lovett said. There are about 400 children who are enrolled in the camp each summer.
The YMCA would like to continue using the property for the day camp and operating the family swim club, Lovett said.
The property is already a park complete with a pool, skateboard park, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, buildings, and open space where the township could build new soccer fields, officials said.
The township soccer leagues are in need of new fields for about 2,500 children who play, officials said.
"We want to stop depending on the high schools for the soccer fields," Tomaro said. "There needs to be more fields for the amount of children in the township who play soccer."
The YMCA anticipates it will purchase the land within the next couple of months, Lovett said.