Bernardsville Council Faces More Comments on Athletic Fields

In a three-way conversation between the Bernardsville Borough Council, Somerset Hills Board of Education and members of the public on which of three athletic field proposals should be built — and in what way — residents continued to urge caution at this week's Borough Council meeting.

As at the previous few meetings, the Borough Council ended Monday's meeting and went back into a closed-door executive meeting to discuss a potential lease agreement with the Board of Education. The lease agreement in its broadest terms would call for the school board to pay for the installation of the artificial turf "Chestnut Field" on borough-owned property behind the Bernardsville Middle School.

Chestnut Avenue resident Terry Byrne again said that the project as proposed would drop property values on his street and result in the destruction of many trees, some 100 years old or more.

Byrne added he feels a real grass field would blend in better in a wooded town, especially off season, while "an artificial turf field sticks out all year."

Councilman Joe Rossi said that the borough is waiting for the school district to hire an engineer to conduct a "site impact study" that would include how the project might affect the neighborhood.

Another borough resident, Patrick Frame, suggested that perhaps any use agreement in a lease with the school board should be contingent on deciding whether concerns about the environment, traffic and other issues are answered.

Borough officials, including Mayor Lee Honecker, said the proposed deal won't go any further unless the school board and the Borough Council could negotiate an agreement in which to determine how much playing time will be allocated to borough programs. "If we can't come to an agreement, then it's not going to happen," the mayor said.

Councilman John Farrell added that officials would like to know whether the agreement will even proceed beyond that point before spending money on studies.

Another resident, Jeff Olson of Old Colony Road, asked that consideration be given to whether further drainage problems would be created by that road by the development of proposed grass fields in the lower field area below the existing turf field at Bernards High School.

Honecker said borough officials cannot comment on that project since it is proposed as a school board facility that would be located on the school board's property.

The question also arose of whether borough officials should be giving input on school board projects after the Borough and offering advice on the proposed "lower field" project from an environmental standpoint.

On Monday, the Borough Council's attorney, John Pidgeon, said the commission had acted inappropriately by sending the letter to the Board of Education, which he said is a separately elected governing body.

"We believe we have full authority to do what we did," said Sherry Frawley, chair of the borough environmental commission.

Commission member Johanna Wissinger said that a statewide manual for environmental commissions said those commissions may communicate its findings and even "take controversial positions as its members see fit" as part of its duties.

But Pidgeon said that the borough-appointed commission does not have "carte blanche" permission to deal with any environmental issue, and he also said the commission is "not an enforcement agency."

He added the Board of Education is independently elected and serving. "We the borough cannot interfere with their operations if they are in compliance with the law."

Resident Bob Frawley said the environmental commission does have the authority to make recommendations "in an advisory role" that the council or Board of Education are free to ignore.

But Pidgeon said the commission went beyond that role in the letter as when it asked the school board for tangible proof that necessary permits were in hand, or that the regulatory agency had confirmed, in writing, that no additional permits were required for the project to proceed.

Sherry Frawley said that no one on the commission was disputing the need for more athletic fields. But, she added, "There is a right way and a wrong way to do any of these projects."

Also still on the table is a proposal for about by the Bernardsville municipal pool. That project would be completely under the borough's control.