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District calls for teamwork
(by Megan Burrow - February 20, 2008)
The recent discussion on how best to resolve the dearth of usable playing fields in the
Township
of
Washington
continued at the Feb. 11 council meeting. At the meeting, Westwood Regional Superintendent Geoffrey Zoeller pitched his idea for improving the town’s fields to the mayor and council – a joint shared service agreement between the township and the district to develop unused land at
Westwood
Regional
High School
.
Zoeller’s proposal came on the heels of a presentation made on Jan. 28 by a field committee comprised of coaches and recreation officials. At the previous meeting, the field committee had lobbied the council to hire a grant writer to obtain money for drastic improvements to Memorial Field, the town’s largest and the only field with lighting. The centerpiece of the committee’s broad proposal is a plan to install artificial turf at Memorial in order to withstand the considerable wear and tear from the town’s many sports leagues and recreation programs.
The committee has previously expressed its disapproval of any plan involving the high school grounds. Many of its members were in attendance to hear Zoeller’s presentation.
Zoeller hopes to enter into an interlocal agreement with the township to cooperatively fund a project utilizing the undeveloped land adjacent to the junior/senior high school. During the day, the fields would be used by the school and then turned over for the township’s use at an agreed upon time in the early evening.
Zoeller exhibited several illustrations of possible ways the land could be developed. One plan features a football field with an all-weather track, three soccer fields and overlaying baseball diamonds. Another has a softball field set on the front lawn of the high school. Because a cemetery borders the high school, Zoeller said, lighting the fields would not be an issue.
Quoting his Jan. 10 “State of the District Address,” Zoeller explained why he believes working cooperatively with the school district to improve the fields would be in the town’s best interest. “We have limited open spaces in our communities where children can play and where athletes can practice and compete. While all public schools struggle with limited fiscal resources, we recognize that it is incumbent upon us to work closely with both the Township [of Washington] and the Borough [of Westwood] to develop creative solutions that will allow us to provide quality physical education, recreation, and athletic facilities. To that end, I strongly believe that we must work together to develop a comprehensive master plan that addresses the needs we share, and that such a plan would ensure that we do not waste resources through duplicative efforts.” The district had also approached Westwood about its interest in such an agreement, but the borough declined.
Zoeller cited several examples of interlocal agreements, both informal and formal, between schools and municipalities in
New Jersey
. “We would make guarantees that would allow you to feel comfortable with any plan,” Zoeller told the council. He mentioned a variety of options for the council to consider. The district could lease the property to the municipality that the municipality would then develop, or the district could maintain control of the property and work together with the municipality on an agreement determining an exact time frame that the township would be able to use the facility.
The conversation became heated when the floor was opened to members of the public. Field committee members voiced their opposition to Zoeller’s proposal, arguing the town would not have enough control over the use of the fields. “Why should the tax payers of
Washington
Township
fund the capital improvement of the high school that would be for the benefit of the school district and Westwood pays nothing?” asked men’s softball coach Terry Hayes. “If the fields are improved at the high school, the high school is gonna start using those fields. When you don’t own it, you don’t control it.”
Other members of the committee echoed this concern. Margaret Kossel, superintendent of recreation, expressed her belief that the district will renege on its pledge if an agreement is reached. “We enter into an agreement when we file for use of facilities permits, for basketball, for wrestling, cheerleading, and almost on a daily basis, having an agreement signed by the Board of Education allocating those facilities to us, we’re canceled, we’re pushed aside, something happens where we can’t use the facilities and we’re scrambling. I need a lot more than guarantees,” Kossel said. “We need to address the current situation. Memorial field needs to be done. We own it, we can start it, don’t have to sit down and discuss long-term projects and master plans. My god, how many years in the future is this, we need something now.”
Eamon Twomey, who recently started the town’s lacrosse program, raised the issue of when the town would have access to the fields. “This isn’t just about five, six and on into the night. Our kids are never gonna go to sleep.”
“My purpose is not push something down your throat,” Zoeller said. “Students that are in your recreation program are in school district facility 10 months of the year for most of the time the sun is up. If we create fields that are not accessible to them for that enormous amount of time, then I have to question whether we are spending our money in the best possible way. We don’t have enough field space right now, yet there’s an enormous amount of undeveloped land adjacent to the Jr./Sr. high school right here in the township that just sits there.”
Councilman Joe Giardina explained why the district’s proposal is worth exploring. “If we turf Memorial, what we end up with is still one field. True, it’s in better condition, but it’s still just one field. The proposal by the BOE will allow us to have two maybe even three fields in total. Memorial Field will be used less and given a chance to rejuvenate itself. You’ve got two parties who genuinely want to solve the problem for the use of the children, their children and our children are one and the same.”
The council interviewed two grant writers in closed session the night of the meeting. It will continue to discuss field improvement options at the Feb. 25 meeting and see which project fits better with the available grant opportunities.
“We are moving quickly, but I want it to be thorough, I want us to turn over all the stones before we make the final decision,” Giardina said. “This council is responsible for spending your taxes and I want to spend it the right way. You’ve already entrusted these people with your children’s education. Let’s extend the trust a little further.”
Megan Burrow's e-mail address is burrow@northjersey.com.
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