U.F. resident wants name removed from petition CU spokesperson says withdrawal doesn't come as a surprise BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer "I feel the petition is becoming counterproductive to reaching our ultimate goal, which is to get the middle school built as soon as we are able." - Marc Covitz UPPER FREEHOLD - One of the five petitioners who asked the state commissioner of education to set aside the results of the Upper Freehold Regional School District's December 2004 referendum plans to withdraw his name from the document. Marc Covitz, an Upper Freehold resident who ran unsuccessfully for the Board of Education in 2004, announced on Jan. 8 that he intends to remove his name from the petition, which was filed in September. In December 2004, the voters of Upper Freehold and Allentown approved a $38.9 million referendum authorizing the Upper Freehold Regional School District to acquire land and construct a new middle school on Ellisdale Road in Upper Freehold Township. The petitioners allege that during a public meeting on June 28, school district officials acknowledged that prior to the election, the district was aware of but failed to disclose to voters the presence of dieldrin contamination on the proposed school site. When asked why he decided to withdraw his name from the petition, Covitz said, "I feel the petition is becoming counterproductive to reaching our ultimate goal, which is to get the middle school built as soon as we are able. I believe we all need to rally behind the Board of Education to move this project in the right direction." He said he has never been an advocate of moving the school to Breza Road, as has been advocated by some petitioners. Covitz, an Upper Freehold representative of the Crosswicks Creek/Doctors Creek Regional Greenway Planning Group, cited the environmental constraints on the Breza tract. He noted the wetlands on the tract and its proximity to two major tributaries of the Crosswicks Creek as reasons not to put the school at that site. He also said that tract is very suitable habitat for a variety of wildlife including hawks and eagles. Covitz pointed out that the Breza Road property also has archeological and historical significance because it includes American Indian and Colonial burial sites. "I feel that the site is not conducive to large-scale construction and impervious coverage," Covitz said. "It is my belief that we should make every effort to preserve the Breza tract in its entirety." Only one of the other four petitioners lives in Upper Freehold. Gerald Nathanson, a resident of the Four Season active adult community, lives across the street from the proposed middle school on Ellisdale Road. The Allentown petitioners are Micah Rasmussen, who worked as a spokesperson for former Gov. James McGreevey, Diane Sterner, and Borough Councilman Daniel Zorovich. Rasmussen responded to Covitz's withdrawal from the petition on the Communities United e-mail forum, which area residents started as a means to communicate their dissatisfaction with the New York City-based Rockefeller Group's plans to construct warehouses on the Breza Road site. The developer has since withdrawn its application for development from the township's Planning Board. Now that the warehouse situation has been resolved, the forum has primarily become a site for discussing middle school issues. On the forum, Rasmussen, who is a spokesperson for Communities United, said that Covitz's decision doesn't come as much of a surprise. "With all due respect, it has been clear for a long time now that your agenda is very different than ours," he wrote to Covitz. He continued, "What's more than a bit puzzling is how all of your past concerns about the contamination, wastewater and funding issues can be reconciled with a turnaround decision to now support these same problems, which remain just as unsolved as they were when you were [formerly] opposed to them. Just to be clear, I don't know of a single person, on the petition or otherwise, who is not behind the board of education resolving these significant problems." Smith did not comment directly on Covitz's planned withdrawal from the petition, but said he's in favor of getting the new middle school built soon. "In the face of difficult circumstances, the board continues to pursue the construction because it is so critical to the future of children in Allentown and Upper Freehold," Smith said. On Oct. 3, Board of Education Attorney Viola Lordi filed a notice with the commissioner of education to dismiss the petition in lieu of an answer. The brief on behalf of the board cited NJSA 18A:24-65, which requires all challenges to the election results of a bond referendum proposal to be heard within 20 days of the election. "Having waited more than 20 months after that date to file their petition," the notice states, "petitioners cannot now obtain an order setting aside the results of the referendum." The brief further states that the petitioners in this matter make a series of claims without any basis in fact or law, and that they have failed to advance a cause of action. Interim Superintendent of Schools Robert Smith said that legal fees for the district regarding the petition totaled $20,450 by mid-December. Upper Freehold