Time to move forward in Monroe
Your Turn
Joe Montanti
Guest Column

On Thursday Jan. 5, the bipartisan State House Commission voted unanimously to approve the diversion of 35 acres of Thompson Park land for 152 acres of Monroe Township municipal property and $1.2 million.

The commission took its role seriously, reading and absorbing the report submitted by state Department of Environmental (DEP) Commissioner Brad Campbell that recommended the diversion’s approval. The commission voted in agreement with Mr. Campbell. It recognized that the public good is best served by allowing the diversion to take place and have the 35 acres become the home for the new Monroe Township High School.

The DEP report was extensive and detailed in refuting the arguments of the diversion opponents. It recognized that if the diversion was approved, the park would in fact grow larger from the current 1,700 acres to more than 1,800 acres and would have six new and better soccer fields to replace the practice fields that the high school will displace. The DEP report also recognized that because of environmental constraints on other undeveloped land parcels, Monroe really did not have any options available other than the diversion.

The Park Savers group, whose members opposed the diversion, fought a good fight of which they can be proud, and I commend them. In the end though, after all their allegations were refuted by the DEP report, the only thing they had left to stand on is the principle that the 35 acres of parkland were sacred in some way.

I have been an environmental activist for more than 35 years and never expected to find myself on the opposite side of an argument with the Sierra Club. The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club and the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic are standing on the principle that parkland should never be touched, period. They claim the land that the township is exchanging is inferior. It is not. The land is a mixture of forest, fields and stream corridor that supports an abundance of wildlife. The 35 acres of Thompson Park are unremarkable, lumpy soccer fields, supporting virtually no wildlife above that of insects.

Monroe has been and continues to be one of the most proactive municipalities within the state in the preservation of open space. We have a plan in place to purchase approximately 1,500 acres in 2006. These acquisitions will prevent the building of hundreds of new homes, will significantly increase the size of Thompson Park and will create a greenway from Jamesburg to the Millstone River just north of state Highway 33.

Many members of the opposing Park Savers group were solidly behind the township when we condemned the 74-acre Hawthorne Acres project and the 829-acre Bank of China property, both of which have since been added to Thompson Park (adding a combined area greater than New York City’s Central Park). I thank them for that support. It is on an approximately 35-acre farm field portion of the Bank of China tract that the township will construct game-quality soccer fields, including one with lights and stands for spectators. No trees will be destroyed in the building of the high school and the new soccer fields. No animals will be displaced or environmentally sensitive areas disturbed.

I believe that Commissioner Campbell and the State House Commission members were able to step back and view this larger picture. They voted not on partisan politics, but on the sheer logic and evidence that the diversion would be in the greater public interest. Their vote increases the size of Thompson Park, provides the county with superior soccer fields and provides the residents of Monroe with a home for a new high school. They saw no downside to the diversion; they demonstrated unbiased leadership in their vote. Is this not what we expect from our governmental leaders?

We are now at a juncture that will have a great effect upon all residents of Monroe. The Park Savers group, the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic have threatened in the past to sue if the diversion was approved. It is to them I address these words directly.

I humbly implore you to stand back and view the larger picture and recognize that any lawsuit brought will do nothing but harm the children of Monroe. You have a choice to make — to either take comfort in knowing you tried your best and accept the vote, or to file a lawsuit. Before you decide, remember that the diversion vote was supported by Republicans and Democrats unified in recognizing the wisdom of the diversion. That kind of nonpolitical cooperation is a reflection of their understanding of the importance of the issue and that there is no downside to approving the diversion.

The diversion was endorsed by all the local newspapers, supported by Mayor Richard Pucci and the Monroe Township Council, unanimously supported by the the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders, recommended by the state DEP, supported by Monroe’s state legislature representatives (two Republicans and a Democrat) and unanimously approved by the bipartisan State House Commission. Your chances of overturning this approval will be slim, but the likelihood is great that litigation would cause a delay in the high school.

I ask the Park Savers not to let their disappointment in the outcome become an obsession and an exercise in futility to fight on through litigation. This will hurt us all. I ask them to look in the mirror and decide if they want to be responsible for a continued delay in the one thing we all agree on — that the construction of a much-needed high school needs to move forward.

Joe Montanti is Monroe Township environmental protection manager