Court battle over where to park Sayreville's school buses drags on
The court battle between Sayreville’s Borough Council and Board of Education over a proposed school district transportation complex is continuing.
Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Lisa Vignuolo denied a motion Friday to grant summary judgment in favor of the lawsuit brought by the school district against the borough.
The next step is a Feb. 16 hearing on a motion by the borough to dismiss the lawsuit.
The school district filed a lawsuit against the borough in November alleging breach of contract over a May 2022 memorandum of understanding agreeing to the construction of a $9.5 million joint transportation center for school district vehicles and the borough's Department of Public Works on municipal-owned land on Cheesequake Road. That space is borough property and was suggested by the borough for the new center.
"It is a shame that the Borough is not only refusing to honor its legal and moral obligations to the Board of Education, who accepted the Borough’s request to move the site of their planned transportation complex to the Borough’s property after a joint public meeting, public hearings, and resident input," Superintendent of Schools Richard Labbe said in a statement, "but also that the Borough is now causing increased legal costs and project delays by refusing to consent to have the court proceed in an expedited manner."
Labbe added the borough "is intent on dragging this matter out as long as possible for political gain, regardless of the impacts on our students and taxpayers."
When asked for comment, Sayreville Business Administrator Glenn Skarzynski said in a statement, "since this litigation has not yet been fully addressed by the Court, we will have no comment."
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The school district is asking the court to order the borough to meet its obligations under the agreement, including "exhibiting good faith and fair dealing."
Mayor Kennedy O'Brien, elected in November, has said he has no intention of entering into an agreement with the Board of Education over the project.
"I do not want to be part of this bus terminal," O'Brien said at a January Borough Council meeting. "I don't see it as a good decision."
The school bus transportation center issue began in 2017 when the school district switched from a private contractor for student transportation to in-house service. That switch sparked the need for a transportation center when buses started to take up parking spots at the high school.
After plans for a transportation facility at Selover School were scrapped because of neighborhood opposition, the two sides agreed to a new site, owned by the borough, on the north side of Cheesequake Road between the ballfields and the DuPont factory.
The district and the borough agreed to a long-term land-swap lease, in which the district would obtain a renewable 50-year lease with a 25-year renewal option on the borough’s property in exchange for the borough getting a lease on the portion of the district’s property at the Selover site where was athletic fields are located.
After the agreement was signed, the district moved forward with its plans to construct the transportation complex, "expending significant sums of scarce taxpayer funds to do so," according to the lawsuit.
The district appeared before the Planning Board in October and residents from the nearby Laurel Park community expressed a variety of concerns including traffic and land use issues. As a result, the Planning Board recommended against the project.
It was then that the Board of Education brought the lawsuit against the borough.
email: cmakin@gannettnj.com
Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Sayreville NJ school bus parking court battle drags on
