Acropolis: Rec center at Foodtown 'dead in water'
Twp. looking at three alternate sites; decision expected by spring
BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

Brick Township won't build a community center on the former Foodtown site on Route 70, said township Councilman Stephen C. Acropolis.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's dead in the water," said Acropolis, chairman of the council's business and finance committee. "Us building the recreation center on the Foodtown site is highly unlikely due to the traffic concerns there."

Acting Township Business Administrator Scott Pezarras said if the council doesn't want the community center on the Foodtown site, it won't be built there.

"The council would have to appropriate money for it," Pezarras said. "If he's saying it's dead in the water, it's dead in the water. Then it's obviously not the site where they want to put it."

Acquiring another site for a community center would add dollars to the estimated $33 million cost of construction, Pezarras said.

The $33 million figure was an estimate proposed by KBA Architecture, Milltown, whose architects recently presented to the council and administration in closed session an updated study first completed in 2002.

The firm had based its study around the Foodtown site, purchased by the town for $6.1 million in 2003 with the intent to construct a community center there.

If the Foodtown site is sold and another site is chosen in which to build a recreation center, then the outstanding bonds used to purchase the Foodtown site would be placed in a sinking fund and the excess amount of money from the sale of the Route 70 property would be used to purchase a new site, Pezarras said.

A sinking fund is an account that the township would add money to over time to pay back a bond issue by purchasing back a portion of the bonds every year. This way, the township won't be faced with as a high of a principal when the bond matures.

Although the township just spent $5,000 to update the 2002 study, the 140,000- to 175,000-square-foot community center outlined in the feasibility study is unlikely to be built at all, Acropolis said.

"I'm not going to spend $33 million of taxpayer money to build a community center planned six years ago," he said. "We need to be more efficient."

Both Acropolis and Pezarras said up to three alternate sites within town are under consideration for a community center location, but neither official would say where they are.

The Stavola asphalt plant located next to town hall was talked about as a proposed location earlier this year, but officials have backed off talking about that site since Stavola sued the Zoning Board of Adjustment for denying its application for a new asphalt plant on the site.

Wherever township officials plan to put the community center, Pezarras said another feasibility study would not have to be done.

"It wouldn't necessarily be a full-blown study or about changing demographics," Pezarras said. "It'd just have to be how much are you paying for the new site and if you're planning on selling other assets."

Selling Civic Plaza may be one such asset, Acropolis said.

"We're exploring the possibility of purchasing existing recreation operations in the area," he said. "Things we might be able to consolidate."

A "taxpayer friendly, traffic friendly" ratable could be made out of the Foodtown site such as hotel suites, Acropolis said.

The township will know where and if a community center would be built by spring 2007, Pezarras said.