Monroe begins making case for land in Thompson Park

Freeholders are told
why local officials
support a land swap
By jamie dougher
Staff Writer

STEVEN M. BARON Members of Park Savers carry signs and discuss their concerns outside the Middlesex County administration building in New Brunswick last Thursday.

Though a formal proposal may be months away, Monroe Township officials made their first appearance before the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders last week to discuss building a high school in Thompson Park.

The 35-acre section of the county-owned park has been earmarked as the best possible location for the proposed new school, which would be built across the street from the existing high school at Perrineville and School House roads.

Though supported by Monroe’s Board of Education and municipal officials, it has been met with opposition from a group of citizens calling themselves Park Savers, many of whom attended the freeholders’ meeting last Thursday.

Township Council President Irwin Nalitt spoke at the meeting to elucidate the reasons the council chose to support a land swap between the township and the county so that a section of the park can be used for the school.

He said the previous bond referendum to build a new high school was voted down last September because the cost of purchasing land and constructing the school and athletic fields would amount to $24 million more than the current proposal, which has a price tag of $82.9 million. Other locations considered for the school were discarded because they are on wetlands and lack water and sewer connections.

"It’s a very large township, but very few parcels are suitable for a high school," said Board of Education President Joe Homoki, who also spoke at the meeting.

Park Savers members say that Monroe has additional room for growth, and they feel it is inappropriate to request land from a county park. They made their concerns known during the public portion of the meeting.

"Developers have no problem finding space for housing in a town that’s only one-third developed," said Mark Prohaska, a Monroe resident. "Why should we all suffer for the Board of Education and Mayor (Richard) Pucci?"

Proponents of building the school in Thompson Park say it eliminates the need not only to buy land but also to duplicate the existing athletic fields and performing arts center that will be available at the current high school. Those facilities will be available for use by students at the new high school.

The current high school would become a middle school under the plan proposed by the school board, and the current middle school would become the district’s fifth elementary school.

The new high school would have three floors and a capacity for 1,800 students, but the capacity could be increased to accommodate 2,400 to 2,700 more students in a two- or three-story facility that could be added on to the school within the 35 original acres.

Freeholders Director David B. Crabiel said the township still has to make a formal request to the county regarding the land swap before his board can begin to consider the proposal. He said that formal request would be made upon passage of the township’s Dec. 9 bond referendum to build the new high school and perform work at other schools in Monroe.

Crabiel said he would only consider supporting the project if the township provides the county with twice the acreage that it would take for the high school, which he understands will be the case.

"If there was to be any swap of land it would be two (acres) to one," he said. "I’m a strong proponent of open space, and I’m a strong proponent of parkland."

The land that would be exchanged for the 35-acre property is reported to be three woodland parcels adjacent to Route 522 that combine for 77 acres.

If the freeholders, as well as the voters, approve the proposal, it would still have to be approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Homoki said that if the proposal is rejected by the DEP, it would negate a year’s worth of work and place a burden on the already overcrowded schools. The school system now uses 17 trailers as classrooms and is growing at the rate of 350 students per year.

"It would be a tremendous setback be­cause we’re overcrowded now," he said. "A bond referendum doesn’t happen overnight.

"We are pressed, and I hope that the majority of people see that this is a good thing."

The freeholders themselves did not make any statements about Monroe’s pro­posal, but Freeholder Jane Brady raised the question about approvals from the DEP and Green Acres, the state program that helped the county buy Thompson Park and that requires a land exchange in which the township trades an equal amount of land for open space. Brady’s question was whether the county could even go ahead with the plan to build the school on park property, which was greeted with applause from the Park Savers members at the meeting.

"I think the big problem is going to be Green Acres," said Freeholder Stephen Dalina. "We’ll see what happens down the road."