Scotch Plains voters to decide on $3.8 million Brookside Park project
SCOTCH PLAINS – Township voters will decide the fate of a $3.8 million bond to fund changes to Brookside Park on November's ballot.
The grassroots organization Friends of Brookside Park collected 2,050 signatures calling for a referendum on the project which calls for the natural grass baseball field to be replaced by artificial turf.
The petition needed only 1,408 certified signatures for the question to be placed on the Nov. 7 ballot.
"I salute those civic-minded residents who collected the signatures for this petition, as they truly care about Scotch Plains," Mayor Josh Losardo said, adding that the township will be providing more information throughout the summer.
Losardo also said that by holding the referendum in November, instead of a special election, the township would be saving $100,000 in costs.
The Township Council voted 4-1 on April 18 to adopt the bond ordinance.
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The Friends of Brookside Park are opposed to the installation of artificial turf at the park on Hetfield Avenue because “thousands of people in our town do not want plastic grass at Brookside Park," Fran Wagner, one of the organizers of the petition drive, previously said.
In neighboring Westfield, neighbors unsuccessfully opposed a proposal last year to install artificial turf fields at Edison Intermediate School.
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: Scotch Plains NJ voters to decide on $3.8M Brookside Park project
