Rockaway Twp. school board says 'no' to new school at Agilent site
Vote eliminates one obstacle to Christ Church plans to move there
By Rob Jennings, Daily Record
ROCKAWAY TWP. - A potential roadblock to the Christ Church building plan was removed when the school board ruled out building a new public school at the former Agilent Technologies site.
The board, in a 5-0 vote late Wednesday night, eliminated the 107-acre tract on Green Pond Road from consideration, school board business administrator Daniel Saragnese said.
Board president Frank Giarratano said it would be too costly to acquire all or part of the Agilent site through eminent domain, and either renovate the existing building or construct a new facility.
Saragnese estimated it would have cost $31.1 million to acquire the entire site through eminent domain and renovate the existing building, or $24.5 million to buy a small portion and build there.
"On top of that, there were multiple ecological concerns and multiple remediations that were going to have to take place to make this site safe," Giarratano said.
Christ Church's spokesman, Marc Weinstein, reacted favorably to the board's decision.
"The church is very pleased with the board of education's decision," Weinstein said, adding that only a limited amount of environmental work is required at the site.
"What needs to be done is very minor," Weinstein said.
The board's facilities study committee, in March, suggested the Agilent site and two other places as possible school locations. The committee recommended building an 85,000-square-foot school and additions to the Dennis B. O'Brien and Birchwood elementary schools due to projected student enrollment growth.
The committee's two other site recommendations were the 16-acre Fleetwood Drive property, owned by the K-8 district since the 1970s, and a 34-acre, privately owned tract on Mount Hope Avenue for a new school.
"It was the high-cost option," Giarratano said of acquiring the Agilent site.
Some Christ Church building plan opponents appeared to support a public school at the Agilent site as a means of blocking the 5,000-member, Montclair-based evangelical Christian church's controversial proposal for the site.
School officials said from the start that local objections would not influence their decision.
"This is all about what's appropriate for the district," said Giarratano, was part of a nine-member delegation from the district that toured the Agilent site in December.
Christ Church's plan to build a 3,000-seat sanctuary, private K-5 school and recreation facilities has generated enormous local resistance. The planning board, at its seventh hearing next month, will decide whether to retain jurisdiction or refer the application to the board of adjustment.
Charles Mueller, a resident, opposes the building plan but isn't convinced a new school is needed by the district.
"I'm not totally disappointed," Mueller said. "Obviously, in my mind, (a public school) would have been preferable to having the church go there.
"If they needed a school, it seemed like the obvious choice - but whether they need one, I don't know," Mueller added.
Ted Doty, a resident who opposes building a new school, said enrollment projections that indicate a significant jump in student enrollment are flawed.
Whitehall Associates, hired by the district to provide an estimate, predicted last winter than the student population would grow from 2,865 in 2003 to 3,337 in 2008.
However, that number includes 388 anticipated students from the long-stalled Pondview Estates project, even though Whitehall acknowledged that water restrictions might reduce the development's size by 75 percent.
"We still don't need a school. That's the meat of it," said Doty, who is not a church member but supports its building plan.
Lisa Salberg, co-founder of Voices of Rockaway Township, which opposes the church building plan, could not be reached for comment early this afternoon.
Salberg and the group's three other founders joined the facilities study committee last fall but resigned after a month, citing time constraints.
Board members continue to assess the committee's findings and may vote next month to authorize a referendum in December, school officials said. The next board meeting is June 9.
Giarratano said the board could, in theory, decide to reopen its inquiry into the Agilent site, adding that any reconsideration was highly unlikely.
Giarratano said the board will continue examining the committee's suggestions and weigh any other options that might come up. While the board hopes to soon reach a decision, it is not committed to any timeframe, he added.
