Bernardsville Council To Draw Up Proposal for Chestnut Field

Following discussion in both public and behind closed doors about the options for developing athletic fields being considered by the Borough Council and Somerset Hills Mayor Lee Honecker said the borough attorney has been directed to draft an agreement for the school to install a new field behind the Bernardsville Middle School.

The regional school board is looking at building a turf field on property that is mostly borough-owned property.

The proposed field would cost between about $1 million to $1.3 million, according to Councilman Joseph Rossi and figures discussed at previous meetings. School officials previously said they would set aside funding in the school district's capital budget.

The borough would continue to own the property under the proposal, Rossi said.

In an email on Tuesday, Somerset Hills Schools Superintendent Peter Miller confirmed, "The BOE would lease the property, the borough would own it."

Following an executive session on Monday night at which council members and the mayor seemingly expressed some disagreement behind closed doors, Honecker said the borough's attorney, John Pidgeon, had been asked to draft a proposed agreement.

The next scheduled meeting of the Borough Council is at 7 p.m. on March 11.

Meanwhile — with both school and borough officials in agreement that more athletic fields are needed — there are two other proposals for building fields that are being considered.

A few residents at Monday's meeting approached the council to discuss the merits of three different proposals.

Terry Byrne, of 103 Chestnut Ave., said he had met with a few of the neighbors on the street and they expressed concern that the building of a new turf field might eventually result in the construction of bleachers and other facilities such as parking.

"I am concerned you are turning it into more of an athletic complex," Byrne said.

Honecker said there had been no mention of building parking in the area.

Rossi also told Byrne that a previously appointed ad hoc committee would address such issues.

Rossi also told Byrne that a plan by the borough to install turf at an existing grass athletic field at the nearby Upper Polo complex, owned by the borough, is not off the table.

However, Honecker said that plan hasn't been addressed since Hurricane Sandy hit the area. Prior to Sandy's impact, requiring clean-up afterward, he said that the borough had a financing formula in place that wouldn't have raised taxes. However, residents voted down that proposal in a non-binding referendum on last November's ballot.

"I think Upper Polo makes a lot more sense," resident Greg DiGioacchino told the mayor and council. He suggested that the borough might research grants to help pay for the turf installation.

"If we do Chestnut, we would have another field," Honecker noted. "If we just do Upper Polo, would have one field, even if it has turf."

However, resident Patty DeLeo told the council that the issue also is building "playable" fields since too many, including the one at Upper Polo that had been designated to be turfed, often are too wet for use.

DiGioacchino said he feels the borough should take a "prudent and conservative" approach to exploring the options for the fields.

Request to 'move slowly'

"Please move slowly on this," DiGioacchino asked the council.

The Board of Education also is considering constructing a grass field, which if built partially using fill from a construction site for a new Chase Bank, would cost about $50,000, according to the school district's figures.

However, that plan drew complaints at a meeting last week at which neighbors on Old Colony Road as well as representatives from some local environmental groups complained about trees that would need to be cut for the plan.

At that meeting, on Feb. 20, school board member Lou Palma said that a revision of the plans meant that the original plan to clear about 1.9 acres of land had been reduced to about one-third of that amount.