Hillsborough Explores Options For New School Bus Maintenance Facility

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — The school board is looking at the possibility of developing a piece of land to build a new facility for the transportation and maintenance department.

At the Dec. 22 Board of Education meeting, the Board was asked to vote and approve a resolution for LAN Associates for $149,500 to investigate a piece of property adjacent to Auten Road school. The investigation would include a boundary and partial topography survey, wetlands and flood hazard determination, soil investigation, and more.

The decision to explore this property arose from the lack of space at the current maintenance building.

Curently all of the maintenance work for school buses is being done at what the district calls the Bloomingdale School on Amwell Road.

"It's an aging facility, but the fact of the matter is that the facility really doesn’t work," said Boardmember Joel Davis, who sits on the Operations Committee. "We’re maintaining buses that are full-length, and there isn’t even a bay at the facility where a bus could fit all the way inside, so people are lying on their backs out in the parking lot working on buses."

Discussions arose to possibly develop an open field that is adjacent to Auten Road for a new facility. However, Davis said the price tag camein at just over $12 million.

As a result, the committee asked LAN to investigate the property and also come back with a proposal to outfit the current building.

"The proposal on the agenda to give LAN the go-ahead with the preparatory evaluation of the lot next door. Not to do any construction work," said Davis. "Just to do a preliminary investigation to make sure that the proposals that are being considered are even feasible."

Jan Staats was in favor of the option to improve the current facility.

"Yes, it would be wonderful to have a whole new complex, but I worry about us being more frugal with our money. There are a lot of other things that we still have not recovered from the cutbacks in 2019 and since then. I would like us to explore the possibility of improving the existing location," said Staats.

Superintendent Michael Volpe shared his support with moving forward with the resolution of exploring the property.

"We want to make sure we have a good facility for our employees and making sure that they are not working in not quality conditions," said Volpe.

"If we were to renovate Bloomingdale, and it was an extensive renovation, the big question becomes, 'What do we do with everyone who works there during the renovation?' We don't have a second facility to move people, to move vehicles," said Volpe.

Davis shared that he didn't think renovating the Bloomingdale facility would be a suitable long-term solution.

"The proposal this evening is to begin the preliminary work by evaluating the space next door; it does not preclude continuing to consider what could be done at Bloomingdale in the short term. But in any event, doing something besides Bloomingdale seems to be an inevitability," said Davis.

Ultimately, the Board approved the resolution with Staats and Jean Trujillo voting no.

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