Appeals court clears way for South Hunterdon schools project to begin
WEST AMWELL – More than a year after the election, a state appellate court has upheld the razor-thin passage of a $33.4 million referendum in the South Hunterdon school district, for the renovation of Lambertville Public School into a pre-K-4 facility and the construction of a new school for grades 5-8 on the high school campus.
The appellate court on Thursday rejected an appeal of Superior Court Judge Michael F. O'Neill's decision in June 2022 that rejected claims that illegal votes were cast in the referendum. Opponents of the referendum claimed that four ballots were filed by mail by people who did not live in the school district.
In July 2022, Appellate Court Judge Catherine Enright lifted a stay on the sale of bonds to finance the project that was granted pending the appeal of O'Neill's decision. That allowed the school district, which includes West Amwell, Lambertville and Stockton, to move ahead with the project.
Enright wrote that the people who brought the suit, including West Amwell Township Committee members James Cally, Stephen Bergenfeld, Gary Hoyer and John Dale; former South Hunterdon Board of Education member Craig Reading; West Amwell Planning Board member Robert Balaam and a dozen other West Amwell residents, had "not demonstrated any reasonable probability" that their appeal would succeed.
In its 19-page decision, the appellate panel agreed that the disputed ballots should be counted because O'Neill's findings "were supported by substantial evidence, including each person maintained sufficient contacts with their home state of New Jersey."
O'Neill, the appellate judges wrote, "also favorably considered the individuals' concerns with local matters to vote in a school election as further evidence of New Jersey roots."
The appellate panel also rejected the referendum opponents’ claims that school district violated state law by spending money on the campaign to pass the referendum. The appellate judges wrote that the opponents "failed to state with particularity what expenditures were made and the causal nexus between those expenditures and the outcome of the election."
The South Hunterdon Regional School District was once seen as a statewide model for the regionalization of small school districts, but the referendum divided the district along partisan lines, with Republican West Amwell opposed to the project and Democratic Lambertville in favor.
Nearly two-thirds of Lambertville voters supported the referendum while three-quarters of West Amwell voters opposed it.
More than 800 students attend the three district schools – Lambertville Public School, West Amwell Township Elementary School and South Hunterdon Regional High School.
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The cost of renovating Lambertville Public School is $11.4 million with an addition costing $1.4 million. The cost of building the grades 5-8 school is $20.7 million.
The new school would be built on the high school campus where the junior varsity softball field is. A new JV softball field would be built either behind the new school or on West Amwell Township property behind the municipal building.
The new school would be structured with a two-story wing with grades 5-6 on the lower floor and grades 7-8 on the upper floor. All four grade levels would use the common spaces, such as the gym, cafeteria and library, separately.
The school board decided against building a new K-8 school because of its cost, $38 million to $40 million.
Lambertville Public School, built in 1968, has, by state standards, an undersized library and music room.
West Amwell School, built in 1952, has no art room, music classes meet in a trailer, an undersized library and no heat in the hallways.
In a letter to community residents earlier this month, Superintendent of Schools Anthony Suozzo said site work on the 5-8 building is scheduled to begin in April with a completion date of July 30, 2024.
The renovation of Lambertville Public School will begin in June with estimated completion date of June 30, 2024. Students will attend St. John's School in Lambertville for the 2023-24 school year.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: South Hunterdon schools project to begin after court ruling
