SAYREVILLE – The Sayreville School District Board of Education has approved a memorandum of understanding with the Borough Council that allows the borough to lease a baseball field dedicated to a resident killed in the Vietnam War, while the district leases another property for use as a transportation complex.
The memorandum of understanding between the district and borough was approved by board members on April 26.
Through the memorandum, the borough will lease a baseball and softball complex on Woodland Avenue, located in the Morgan section of Sayreville, from the district.
The complex, which is on the grounds of the Jesse Selover Elementary School, includes a field dedicated to PFC Wayne “Butch” Grant, a Sayreville resident who was killed during the Vietnam War in 1967.
The lease agreement does not include the school itself, including the front lawn, and the teacher parking lots, according to the memorandum.
In turn, the district will lease property on the northbound side of Cheesequake Road, across from the Center for Lifelong Learning and between athletic fields and DuPont properties.
The district and the borough will each pay $1 for their respective leases, according to the memorandum. The terms of the leases are for 50 years and have a 25-year renewal option.
As noted in the memorandum, the borough is in need of athletic fields, a playground and a parking area for recreational programs, which will be used through the athletic complex. The district is in need of a new bus staging and service area, which will be constructed on Cheesequake Road.
Superintendent of Schools Richard Labbe said the borough will be responsible for clearing the trees and tree stumps on the Cheesequake Road property. The borough will also waive the fines, fees and requirements for replacing the trees.
“We’re extremely happy and very grateful to [Business Administrator Dan] Frankel, [Borough Attorney Michael] DuPont, Mayor [Victoria] Kilpatrick, Borough Council President [Michele Cassidy] Maher and the Borough Council for their cooperation in making this happen,” Labbe said.
According to the memorandum, the district will construct an access road through the end of the Cheesequake Road property while constructing the transportation complex and is also responsible for bringing all necessary utilities for the complex on the property and to the end of the access road.
The memorandum follows a joint meeting between the Borough Council and Board of Education in March to determine a location for the proposed transportation complex, which was the first joint meeting for the two bodies.
Residents objected to having the proposed transportation complex built at the athletic fields after board members passed a resolution in December. The resolution approved Spiezle Architectural Group, Inc. to receive $339,800 for services related to the construction of the transportation complex at Jesse Selover School.
District administrators emphasized that the resolution was for a preliminary design of the transportation complex, not physical construction. The complex is intended to address a growing student population by increasing the number of buses; in August 2021, the board approved the $1.65 million lease purchase of 17 new buses.
Following objection from residents, the board passed a new resolution in February that removed mention of the Jesse Selover School, stating that Spiezle was approved to work on a transportation complex at a yet-to-be-named location.
With the approval of the memorandum, the transportation complex will not be built at the athletic fields and the Cheesequake Road property is officially confirmed as the location of the transportation complex.