Bernardsville Preparing New Referendum for Upper Polo Turf Field

Bernardsville officials still are working on a proposal to again ask voters whether to approve a multi-sport synthetic turf field that would be installed over an existing field at the municipal Upper Polo grounds off Seney Drive.

The proposal, although on Tuesday's Borough Council agenda, was tabled for further discussion on June 10, said Bernardsville Borough Clerk Sandra Jones.

Councilman Joe Rossi said a rendering of the proposed $1.5-million field, which could be used for soccer, lacrosse, softball and other sports, had been presented at a previous meeting.

By the June 10 meeting, he said that the Borough Council was expecting specifications for how the field would be financed and the impact on taxpayers, which he said is expected to be "minimal."

Rossi stressed that there has been no decision made yet on the size of the field that might be included in the ballot question, or any other specifications. He said such a decision would be made by the end of June.

No official vote has been taken on whether the non-binding referendum would again be placed on the November ballot, Rossi said.

Borough voters last November rejected a non-binding ballot question of whether to spend between $1.25- to $1.41-million to put turf on an existing borough field at the Upper Polo grounds, located near the Bernardsville pool and tennis courts. The unofficial vote was 1,699 for, 858 against. But borough officials said then that voters were unaware that part of the money could come from open space funds as well as capital funds for that proposal.

Meanwhile, the Somerset Hills school district is pursuing another plan to construct an enlarged natural grass multi-purpose athletic field on the so-called lower field behind Bernards High School.

The school district and Borough Council failed to reach an agreement on a plan for the school district to build another synthetic field off Chestnut Avenue, behind the Bernardsville Middle School. That agreement had hinged on whether the school board would support an easing of restrictions on borough residents for when the turf field at Bernards High could be used by others.

Rossi said that it's his opinion that, "There's definitely a need for this, and it would solve a lot of problems if this field is built."