BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

ALLENTOWN - Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education members have clarified some issues regarding the new middle school project.

On April 17, voters will decide whether to make a 118-acre tract between Route 524 and Breza Road a new school campus that would include the new middle school by voting on a proposed $13.2 million referendum. The middle school was supposed to be constructed on an Ellisdale Road site, but the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has told the school district that it may not get the necessary Wastewater Management Plan (WMP) amendment it needs to be able to provide wastewater treatment at that site. The middle school project, which voters initially approved in 2004, is currently $10.7 million over budget.

The tax impact of the proposed referendum is estimated at $53.75 per $100,000 of assessed value in Upper Freehold Township and $112.90 per $100,000 of assessed value in Allentown, according to Board of Education President Joseph Stampe.

At the board's March 21 meeting, board member Jeanette Bressi said she wants the public to have the correct facts and that new information has come to the board since she last spoke with the Examiner about why she voted against posing the new referendum.

Bressi previously stated that in a worst-case scenario, the Ellisdale Road site could end up with high-density housing. Bressi said the Ellisdale Road site is not slated for high-density housing. The mayor has also clarified that the potential school site would not be included in a possible village center near Polhemustown Road.

Stampe addressed Bressi's previous comment. Bressi had said, "When we got the criteria from [the Office of] Smart Growth, they never stated the site needed to be in a sewer service area. Nor did they say it was even remotely possible that we would not be getting permits."

According to Stampe, Paul Pogorzelski, the board's engineer, has said that sewerability of the location for the school has always been an issue and the board knew in early 2006 that delays and perhaps a denial of the permit was a possibility.

He added that the DEP has said the path to getting the WMP amendment is "far more difficult" on Ellisdale Road than if the district sites the school off Breza Road, which is already in a sewer service area.

Bressi previously stated that moving the school could take away commercial land that could generate ratables to help improve the school district.

Stampe said, "It is the duty of every elected board member that we make 'decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children.' As board members, we should not, therefore, put the issue of ratables before the issue of facilities for our children."

Bressi previously stated that there may not even be enough property left on the Breza Road tract to fit an elementary school with athletic fields. Stampe said the project's architect, Dave Fraytak, has told the board that the Breza Road site would have enough property left for an elementary school once the middle school is built there.

Regarding contamination at the Ellisdale Road site, Bressi previously said, "Ninety-five percent of the property is clean, and 5 percent has dieldrin and arsenic - arsenic that is naturally occurring."

According to Stampe, 355 samples were collected in total from 126 locations on the 46 acres of the Ellisdale Road site.

"Of the samples analyzed for dieldrin, 75 percent of all sample results were detected below the residential standards," he said. "However, 25 percent of the samples were above the residential standards, with 5.8 percent of the total above the nonresidential standards.

Stampe continued, "These results indicated that 25 percent has dieldrin, not the 5 percent as stated by Ms. Bressi, and [25 percent] would need to be remediated."

Regarding soil sampling at the Breza Road site, Bressi previously stated that the board was not told where the seven soil samples it has were taken on the property, which measures 254 acres.

Stampe said, "At the Feb. 7 meeting, I personally stated that Quest Environmental analyzed seven soil samples taken from the lot and block the board is hoping to purchase, which showed no signs of historic pesticides."

Bressi also had concerns that part of the Breza Road property was formerly used as a township dump. She said it is now known that the former dump was located on an adjacent piece of property, not on the land the board would use for the school.

Regarding the bridge the school district would have to build to create access to the Breza Road site, Stampe said the board's professionals have consulted with the Monmouth County engineer and have determined that the box culvert bridge is an estimated cost of $350,000.

"The DEP has consulted with our construction manager and has indicated that the permit needed for the construction of the bridge is not a complicated one and would have no 'unforeseen problems,' " he said in reference to an earlier comment made by Bressi.

Stampe added that the board is discussing the possibility of creating a second entranceway into the Breza Road site. Because the Breza Road site is in an area zoned with a commercial overlay, Bressi previously expressed concerns about the potential development that could surround a school there, saying "We don't know who the kids' neighbors are going to be."

Stampe said, "While the property is currently zoned for a commercial overlay, to say we don't know who the kids' neighbors are going to be can also be said about Ellisdale Road. The property on Breza Road is currently being discussed for preservation, making it far more conducive to a school campus."

Due to where the school will be situated on Breza Road, a tract not contiguous to Allentown, children in the district would not be able to walk to school. However, this arrangement would not create additional busing costs, according to Bressi, since the district planned to bus Allentown students to the Ellisdale Road site because there are no sidewalks along Ellisdale Road.

Bressi also said the school district cannot expand the current high school because it is landlocked. She previously said it might be better for the school district to partner with Millstone to build a regional high school and make the current school district campus, including the high school, a K-8 campus.

Stampe said, "Regionalization with Millstone is a potential, but given the complexity of that issue, we are years away from regionalizing.

"The current high school is not designed to support a middle school student population or a middle school curriculum," he continued. "We know, from comments made by Bernie Piaia, director of the Department of Education (DOE), at our March 7 meeting, that the DOE and School Constructions Corp. (SCC) would not support state moneys for a high school at this time."

According to Stampe, the board has asked its architect, Dave Fraytak, to analyze the capacity of the high school.

Stampe said that using the state formula, the Allentown High School has a capacity of 1,244 students - without the annex, which is a building on the school campus that is currently being used to alleviate overcrowding in the elementary/middle school building.

"We currently have an enrollment of 1,060," he said. "That means we have room for 17 percent growth of the high school population before needing the return of the annex. Last year, our growth was just above 2 percent."

The annex has nine classrooms.

"If you calculate the annex capacity in 20.4 students per class, you get 184 students, thus making the capacity of the high school 1,428," Stampe said.

"However, if you use a more realistic number - say 26 students per class - you arrive at a capacity of 234 for the annex," he said. "Either way, this would mean our high school has 35 to 40 percent growth capacity."

Board member Kathy Winecoff, who is the Millstone representative on the board, said the district should look into doing another regionalization study to determine if it would be beneficial to build a high school in cooperation with Millstone, which does not have its own high school and currently sends its students to Allentown High School.

Bressi said that is why she brought up the idea of building a new high school. She said Millstone was not a willing partner in building such a school.

"A lot has changed in four years," Winecoff said. "We should investigate costs and grants."

When asked during the meeting what she considers a better option between building a high school or a middle school, Bressi said, "I can't say."

When William Borkowski said to Bressi, "Two months ago, you wanted to build a middle school," Bressi responded, "Up until two months ago, I didn't know there was going to be a three-year delay. I don't have all of the answers. I just want to make sure the right questions are being asked."

Bressi also addressed whether the board could go to referendum for the $10.7 million needed to complete a school on the Ellisdale Road site in September. The DEP has told the school district that it might not be able to give the district a final decision on granting the WMP amendment necessary for the site until October. According to Bressi, the school district would be unable to go to referendum for the money it needs to complete a school at the Ellisdale Road site until it gets the amendment.

Bressi said the DEP expected to place the school district's request for the amendment on the register in March, but that did not happen. Superintendent of Schools Robert Smith said it will go on the register on May 7.

Stampe also addressed concerns about the Breza Road site's ability to adequately support wastewater management due to how wet it is. The property the school district hopes to purchase has 15.5 acres of wetlands on it, according to Stampe.

"The DEP expressed no concern with the ability of the ground to adequately support wastewater management because it is too wet," he said.

Stampe said the DEP has already approved the WMP that governs the existing sewer service area for more than four times the need of the middle school, and two times the need of both the middle school and a future school.

The board's engineer is considering a "discharge-to-ground" location for treated wastewater that is further away from Doctors Creek than the location considered by the former warehouse applicant, he said.

"While this discharge-to-ground location will require field verification of the ground's absorptive capacity, it is important to note that the previous applicant included a geotechnical investigation that involved soil borings, test pits and installation of monitoring wells directly on the proposed school campus property," he said. "This data showed the proposed school campus property to have similar geologic and hydrogeologic features as the location of the discharge-to-ground location considered by the warehouse application."

He continued, "On this basis, the board is confident that the confirmation borings to be done for the proposed school campus discharge-to-ground location will yield similar acceptable results to that achieved by the former applicant."

Stampe said the board should know the cost of the Breza Road property later this week and should have the results of the other soil samples next week.