EH Mayor: 'I Support' Referendum Vote

East Hanover Mayor Joseph Pannullo expressed his support for the upcoming referendum for athletic refurbishments at both Hanover Park High School and Whippany Park High School, and said he hoped others would also support it.

"I want the people to know that I support this project 100 percent. I myself, when I go to the polls, I will vote for it," Pannullo said, "and I encourage everyone else to vote for it, too."

The council allowed Carol Grossi, superintendent of the Hanover Park Regional School District, to give a public presentation at the Monday night meeting.

"Those of you who live in East Hanover have seen the condition of our fields. They are beyond repair," Grossi said. "The board has made the decision that it is time to go ahead and replace our field."

Grossi handed out an eight-page 8 x 11.5 in. booklet, which included an aerial rendering of what the fields will look like when complete. "We're doing the same kind of project at both our school, focusing on specific needs at each school," she said.

Field houses with 100 lockers, restrooms and new concession stands will be constructed at each school. "We are going to improve our field drainage, we're going to replace the track, we'll put in new rubberized D-zone, an additional two lanes to the track which will allow us to host county meets," Grossi said.

Each school will also get new ADA-compliant bleachers, new scoreboards, more efficient lighting heads, new fencing, a new sound system and a press box.

Additionally, each school will have a turf field lined for football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls lacrosse and field hockey, along with new lacrosse goals and netting, refurbished softball fields and replaced tennis courts.

If the referendum vote passes, it will give $17.5 million for the project. A breakdown of the costs is outlined in a PDF on the district website. The vote is scheduled for 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. March 12.

William Albert, Jr., the business administrator for the district, said the tax impact for the average home in East Hanover, assessed at $360,792, will be $61.69, or $17.10 per $100,000 of assessed value.

East Hanover resident Matthew Perez asked if either school might need facilities improvements to the school buildings in the next 20 years, such as classroom expansions or improvements.

Albert said the board sold bonds in 2005 for classroom expansions and improvements, and did not anticipate any major future facilities improvement needs at this time. "A lot of the major things have already been addressed," he said.