Union Catholic Parents and Educators Urge SP Council to Support Development Applications

Union Catholic High School parents and educators urged Scotch Plains Township Council members to support the high school's applications to build stadium lights, an electronic scoreboard and other features around its baseball field, at the council's regular meeting Tuesday night. The baseball field abuts houses on two streets in Scotch Plains, and the development applications has sparked determined opposition from residents whose homes border the field.

Black Birch and Dutch Lane border Union Catholic's baseball field, and residents there have hired lawyers to fight the development. In July, they attorneys filed lawsuits against Union Catholic, and the school's development applications have since stalled.

"I am a frustrated taxpaying resident without legal support that is looking forward to the day to have a real public discussion with Union Catholic," a Black Birch resident who opposes the development said at the meeting Tuesday. 

Because the matter is still being litigated, Township Attorney Jeffrey Lehrer advised Mayor Nancy Malool and council members not to respond to residents' comments during the meeting. Instead, they simply listened and took notes as no fewer than five Union Catholic supporters stepped to the microphone.

Jim Reagan Jr., an assistant principal at Union Catholic, emphasized the field's role in the community. "Even as we have sought to improve" the school's facilities, he said, "we have made them available for decades at no cost to our town's organizations." Scotch Plains recreational soccer leagues and Union County's American Legion baseball league, he pointed-out, have used the fields for free.

"We trust that the discontent of certain residents who purchased their properties long after Union Catholic was established has not diminished in your eyes the value we add to the community," Reagan said. As he returned to his seat, members of the gallery applauded enthusiastically.

Those who spoke kept their statements brief, but Union Catholic's supporters made clear their frustration with those who oppose the development. "This is so much needless controversy," said Kathy Dow, a resident of Morse Avenue. "I understand the not-in-my-backyard mentality, but nothing radical is going on." She added that her daughter is a rising sophomore and a starting pitcher for the Union Catholic softball team.

"I am on the fields everyday," said Joan O'Donnell, a health and physical education teacher at Union Catholic. "Modern facilities are an absolute necessity." Before the installation of the turf field in early 2010, she said, "we had to wait a week before we could use the fields after it rained."

She argued that Union Catholic would not use the lights late into the night, in part because of budget constraints. "Even the lights in our classrooms, we can't leave those on if we're not in our rooms." 

Union Catholic's applications are currently before the township's Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment, Lehrer said. Action on those applications, however, hinges on the litigation.

Editor's Note: I am a resident of Black Birch Road. Although my house does not abut the baseball field, to avoid any conflict of interest, this article was edited by Newport Patch editor and former Scotch Plains-Fanwood Patch editor Lindsay Wilkes-Edrington.