County tried to solicit requests for funding
Crabiel: Spotswood's welcome to apply for rec. facility grants

DavidB. Crabiel

Middlesex County Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel says the county is not to blame for the absence of grants to Spotswood from the county open space fund.

Spotswood officials recently spoke out about the fact that Spotswood has received no funding over the years from the Middlesex County Open Space and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, which is funded through a special property tax assessment paid by all county residents. Mayor Barry Zagnit noted that borough residents have collectively paid about $1.13 million into that fund since 1996 when it was created.

In a March 8 Sentinel story, Zagnit and Councilwoman Marge Drozd both expressed concerns that the town has not benefited from this money, even though the fund has been used by other towns for recreation initiatives and not just for open space preservation.

Crabiel responded in a March 14 letter to the Sentinel that the county has reached out to Spotswood over the years regarding the fund, including a letter sent to all Middlesex County mayors in April 2002 soliciting requests for county funding for open space acquisition and the development or improvement of recreation facilities. Crabiel said Spotswood did at that time submit proposals for the acquisition of several parcels of land, but did not identify any recreation facility projects.

In January 2003, county Director of Parks and Recreation Ralph Albanir wrote to Zagnit, soliciting recreation facility development projects for which Spotswood could use county open space money. He said the former Spotswood borough administrator responded later that month that the borough did not currently have any recreational development projects planned, but noted that if certain open space parcels could be acquired, the borough might desire a recreation grant for those areas.

Crabiel said the county did make offers to purchase each of the parcels requested by Spotswood, but none of the landowners showed interest in selling.

In June 2004, Crabiel said county officials again wrote to all the mayors asking them if they had recreation projects for which a grant could be requested, but did not receive a request from Spotswood.

"In conclusion, I am happy that Spotswood is now aware of the availability of county open space funding for the development and improvement of borough recreation facilities," Crabiel wrote. "If any act or omission of the county has deprived borough residents of improvements to local recreation facilities until now, I apologize. However, in the absence of any request from the borough, despite several solicitations by the county, I do not believe that the county is at fault in this matter."

Zagnit, in response, said he was not attacking county officials for the absence of funding.

"I think [Crabiel] misunderstood what I was trying to say. I wasn't shooting at him or any county employee," Zagnit said, noting that he was just stating the fact that borough officials learned recently that the open space fund has "another pot of money that is being used for other uses in addition to open space acquisition."

"That is what caught everyone's attention," he said.

When he found out about the types of grants other towns were receiving, Zagnit said he asked Borough Administrator Ron Fasanello to get more information from the county, and that Fasanello was told that the county does not do outreach for these grants. Officials in other towns know by word-of-mouth to apply for them, Zagnit said, noting that he spoke to an official in another town who was also unaware of the opportunities.

"We know now, and we're going to try to avail ourselves to what is out there," Zagnit said.