Athletic Field Plans Coming Up Wednesday at Somerset Hills School Board

While the Bernardsville Borough Council looks at the town's options for adding to the number of athletic fields within the borough, the Somerset Hills Board of Education on Wednesday is expected to consider its own plan for expanding its fields on school property.

About two weeks ago, three separate proposals were discussed at a joint meeting between the school board and borough council.

At that time, board members and the board's engineer's looked at multi-million proposals for additional multi-purpose fields and facilities such as bleachers and retaining walls on the property of Bernards High School off Olcott Avenue.

But school officials also are considering a plan that would use donated fill from a construction project by Chase Bank that, according to figures discussed that night, might result in a field project that could cost just more than $100,000 to slightly more than $200,000.

Louis Palma, head of the board's facilities and operations board subcommittee, said that group would meet prior to Wednesday's meeting to discuss how a proposal to build fields might be modified to remove fewer trees, and how it might be implemented.

Using Chase's free fill, the fields might cost between $100,000 to $150,000, he said.

Schools Superintendent Peter Miller said he expects that a particular proposal will be suggested and discussed at Wednesday's school board meeting, but he didn't want to specify what board members might prefer. The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Bernards High School, 25 Olcott Ave. in Bernardsville.

That project, and another athletic field proposed on the borough-owned Chestnut property, would require trees to cut down.

A Letter to the Editor to Patch on Tuesday urged residents to properly manage what is described as a watershed area for the Penn's Brook.

"As we move forward, are we prepared to inform aspiring student scientists and curious developing minds alike, that you, this board of education, decided to cut down hundreds, perhaps over 1,000 trees, that represent a prime example of northern New Jersey wooded freshwater wetlands?" asked a letter from borough resident David A. DePodwin.

Meanwhile, the Bernardsville Borough Council has formed an ad hoc committee to examine the traffic impact that an athletic field behind the Bernardsville Middle School would have on property also shared by the middle school, Bedwell Elementary School and leading to the Bernardsville municipal pool and borough athletic facilities at the Upper Polo Grounds property.

"We are desperate for [athletic] fields," Borough Councilman Joe Rossi said on Tuesday night.

Rossi said the traffic patterns at the school — which local officials are trying to improve — should not be worsened by a proposal that which like the elementary and middle schools, are off Seney Drive.

Despite the defeat at the polls, the vote was non-binding over officials' final decision.

Rossi pointed out, as he has in the past, that the borough's fields at the Upper Polo Grounds are heavily used by the regional school district.