Millstone may not own Waters site before vote
School board attorney says
referendum can proceed without title
BY ALISON GRANITO
Staff Writer

Although the Millstone Board of Education intends to build a new school on the Waters property, the land still remains under private ownership.

On Sept. 30, the school board is scheduled to ask voters to approve $39.9 million toward a planned $46.5 million construction project. The state is expected to contribute the remaining $6.6 million.

The majority of the project will focus on approving funds for a $41.3 million middle school and a $689,753 transportation center. The board plans to locate the new facilities on the current site of the Waters Nursery, which is on property bounded by Baird and Roberts roads. The project also includes renovations to the existing middle and elementary school on Schoolhouse Lane.

If the referendum passes, residents will see school taxes increase by 14 cents per $100 of assessed property value. On a home assessed at $400,000, that would translate to an increase of $560 per year.

As part of an agreement reached between the school board and the Township Committee last year, the committee agreed to purchase the land for the school district’s expansion project.

In June, the committee authorized spending $4.8 million on the 165-acre Waters property and approved the use of eminent domain if officials were unable to negotiate the sale.

If the township invokes its power of eminent domain, the committee will condemn the land and the owners will be awarded fair market value, as determined by the courts. On Monday, officials were uncertain if the township would obtain the title to the property before the referendum.

"I would say it is possible but I don’t know that I would say it is probable," said Township Attorney Duane Davison, of Lomurro Davison Eastman and Munoz, Freehold.

Board Attorney Michael Gross, of Kenney Gross Kovats Campbell and Pruchnik, Red Bank, confirmed that the school board can legally proceed with the referendum without the title to the property in hand.

"The referendum only asks the voters to speak to an amount of money to construct a building. They are making a decision only on a tax levy," Gross said Tuesday.

"The question doesn’t include any money for the land. It only deals with construction," he said.

According to Davison, the township is continuing to negotiate with representatives of both the Waters family and Orleans Builders, Philadelphia, which owns a small section of the property.

Orleans also holds a contract on the larger tract and intends to develop approximately 40 single-family homes.

In March, Orleans Builders received Planning Board approval for a two-lot subdivision on the 13-acre piece of the property to which it already holds the title.

If town officials decide to proceed with eminent domain, the title would pass to the township as soon as the complaint is filed with the courts, Davison said.

"You can’t file for eminent domain until you can show that negotiations are futile," Davison said.

Before the township can file a complaint, officials also need to amend the master plan to designate the Waters property as a site for school district use, Davison said.

The Planning Board is expected to take that issue up on Sept. 24, he said.