Talk of Fundraising Accompanies Rec Complex Presentation

The Borough Council voted at its meeting Monday to send a plan for what is being called Phase 1 of the Madison Recreation Complex to the Planning Board for what the borough's attorney called a courtesy review.

Councilman Don Links, also on Monday, presented what he and a committee of 12 citizens and the other Republican members of the governing body have come up with as fundraising suggestions.

Property that will be used for the MRC is commonly referred to as the 49 acres, and was purchased from Florham Park. It sits behind Madison High School and Ridgedale Avenue.

Members of T & M Associates, the engineering design firm based in Middletown the borough had hired to map out the engineering constraints and possible functions of the property, gave a presentation of what the fields on the property would look like.

Also, Jim Sanderson, the borough's director of technology, gave a 3D Google SketchUp presentation of the property.

The presentations showed four new fields, two which would be on the high school property and two planned for what is called the "pit area." Illustrations of the fields can be found attached to this article.

Madison Recreation Complex Advisory Committee chair Marty Horn said the recommendation is the fields be turf instead of grass, citing the ability to continually use turf fields and its lower amount of maintenance. He also said that some of the fields that T & M had referred to as softball fields would be more versatile.

"All of the fields are multipurpose and can be mixed and matched," Horn said.

The two fields on the high school property are part of what was referred to as Phase 1a, which can proceed as soon as funding is in place. Phase 1b, which are the fields in the pit area, will need to get DEP permits, as the top left field boarders–but is not on–wetlands.

Links spoke about how the funding for the project might be raised. He said that the common amount being talked about to complete Phase 1, which is the active recreation component (specifically for team sports) has been $3 million.

Links said the fundraising committee is suggesting the borough borrow the $3 million in interest-only notes, for an interest rate of 1.5 percent. To pay for the interest, he has received commitments from all but one recreation program in the borough to add a $20 user fee to registration fees for each child. That money would pay off the $45,000 of interest over a three-year period.

Links also said that after the debt is paid off that money could go toward the turfing maintenance that would typically need to be addressed at about 15 years after turf is first installed.

In the meantime, over time other sources of money would go toward paying off the principle of the notes. One source would most likely be the $1 million the Board of Education has pledged to give to the project once Green Village Road School and its property is sold.

Another source, Links said, would be from fundraising. He said it appears that the New York Jets would be willing to allow the borough to use, free of charge, their facility in Florham Park for a fundraising gala, which he believes will start yearly in 2011 and raise between $50,ooo-$100,000.

Naming rights and corporate sponsors were also brought up as possible sources of money.

"Many people involved in this process think this complex can be a revenue generator for the Borough of Madison," Horn said.

The issue garnered much interest from the public as the meeting was moved to the Bayley-Ellard gym from Room 320 due to the high turnout. Many of these audience members applauded after Horn's comments about the complex.

The council referred the project to the planning board on a unanimous vote. However, Councilman Robert Conley said he feels there is a lot of work to be done, as T & M's estimates are considerably greater than the $3 million the committee is using as its standard. Conley said he'd like to see what cost companies would actually be willing to do the work for add up to, and if that would back up the amount being targeted by the committee.