Acting Bedminster Super to be Named, Other Meetings This Week

The open space plan has become part of borough officials' discussion of whether to pay for a synthetic turf field at the municipal Upper Polo Grounds with $1.2 million of the existing $5.5-million fund built up in the open space trust fund.

The new plan, created with the assistance of a planner hired by the borough, calls for the acquisition of some "connector" pieces of property for existing greenways and pockets of open space. 

Members of the borough's environmental commission were among those presenting the view that since land investments are expensive in Bernardsville, the borough should use the open space trust fund for the purpose it was originally intended. 

"If they spend that [open space] money, we would never get it back in open space," Pat McFadden, chair of the open space committee, said last week. The open space trust fund is financed by a 2-cent tax that is part of local property tax bills.

Meanwhile, summer recreational activities are underway in both towns. 

The week starts off with a "subway series" of sorts, with the Bernards Township Pleasant Valley Pool Swim team scheduled to face off against the Bernardsville swim team on Monday at 5:15 p.m. at Pleasant Valley Pool off Valley Road in Basking Road.

The Somerset Hills Education Foundation's inaugural year of its summer enrichment program is underway, with all area students invited to enroll at several grade levels. To find out more about courses and to register for this summer, check out www.shefnj.org. Course catalogs and registration forms also were to be available at the Somerset Hills School district and the Bedminster school, as well as at the Bernardsville Public Library and the Clarence Dillon Library.