JACKSON – Township officials and residents heard more about the costs and work performed on the Rova Farms Park project.
Residents questioned the amount of money paid to a politically-connected engineering firm, saying nothing had come of it. The council president said that they did receive some plans, and those would be made public on the town’s website.
A resident who made more pointed commentary on it was Adam Haidi of the Jackson Conservation Coalition who is also a member of the township’s Environmental Commission.
Haidi had questioned the work Morgan Engineering did for the township. Morgan Engineering is owned by Ocean County Commissioner Frank Sadeghi. Haidi asked about Department of Environmental Protection permits that were never applied for and were required for the project to move forward. Council President Mordechai Burnstein at the time said that the firm “dropped the ball” in getting those permits, and Haidi noted the firm dropped that ball after having been paid $491,000.
At a more recent meeting, Burnstein said he spoke with two of his council colleagues in regards to “what we discovered.” He added “we are going to make sure the taxpayers here in Jackson are getting what they paid for and I gave this commitment to Mr. Haidi and I give it to the residents of Jackson. If we do find anything inappropriate or wrong we will obviously hold – no matter who the vendor is – their feet to the fire and I want to say thank you to the resident who initially brought it up (Haidi).”
“Some people have asked what have we gotten from Rova so far?” Burnstein asked as a slideshow presentation ran on the walls of the meeting room. “Rova Farms started after former Councilman now Assemblyman Alex Sauickie (R-12th) who I believe first started that process under Mayor (Michael) Reina and they purchased that property. I think Councilman (Nino) Borrelli you were part of that council that purchased that property and the residents involved in that property are extremely dedicated and devoted to seeing that dream come true.”
Burnstein was referring to the Rova Farms Committee that was formed by the council and includes residents of the township seeking to preserve this historic and environmental resource and to turn it into a passive and active recreation facility for the community called Rova Farms Park.
Survey and environmental studies were done on the property “but one of the big pieces that were important to the committee was the museum. There were a number of artifacts – unfortunately many of them are not in the greatest condition – but one of the big things was that they wanted to bring the school children of Jackson and others to come to use that museum,” he said.
Burnstein said the design of the museum was performed by Morgan Engineering. He pointed out a project plan for the museum had been approved by the Rova Farms Committee. “It was part of what was submitted to the DEP for approval. You have the walking path and the parking lot which was a big back and forth. The Committee worked extremely hard with Chairman Steve Chisholm making sure that as many trees as possible – some of the sensitive trees that people remember when they grew up with Rova – were still there.”
He said a topography study, wetlands delineation and soil testing were done and “there were some questions if the first engineer (prior to Morgan) did a wetlands delineation and if it was done a second time and it is still something we are trying to work through. The building design was done, construction status, the supply files, documents planning and design; they did not verify construction obviously. There are other water issues on the property. The community center was agreed upon and I think there is a concession stand within the community center. The playground and garden – we had a long meeting where the committee members were picking out the colors of each swing set and everything was going to go on there.”
Burnstein added that an event stage was also proposed for the facility “That was a big thing because we wanted to have community events at Rova.” He also said waterfront access was also part of the design of the park. He requested Business Administrator Charles Terefenko add a section to the township website to share all the documents about the park project so the public can review them.
“This would include work done by the first engineering firm hired by the township, Remington and Vernick, and the second, Morgan Engineering, so everyone could go through it” and come up with their own educated informed decision on what was done. “This is still a work in progress and I’m not ready to sign off on everything just yet. There were deliverables,” Burnstein added.
NJDEP approvals are pending and may take up to six months according to the council president who said he hopes Sauickie could help expediate the process with the state agency.
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