Help Save Thomas Edison Park!

Middlesex County is proposing to demolish the existing Thomas A. Edison County Park, cut down 11 acres of woodlands and build a 14 synthetic (plastic) field "Destination Athletic Complex"

The National Park Service has to approve the change in the "Program of Utilization" and is requiring a Enviornmental Assessment, and Public Comment Period.  

This website provides information about the park, and the proposal.  Please use this information to comment on the Environmental Assessment.

As of July 29, 2024 the CIO Plan still has not been made public.

LATEST NEWS

The National Park Service has released the Environmental Assessment for the proposed Sports Complex at Thomas A. Edison Park.  

Click on this link to access the Environmental Assessment: 

ParkPlanning - Thomas A Edison Change in Program of Utilization Environmental Assessment (nps.gov)

Click on Document List,  then click on Thomas A. Edison Change of Program of Utilization.

To Comment:  

PUBLIC COMMENT This EA will be on public review for 30 days. The NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website provides access to current plans and related documents on public review. Users of the site can submit comments on the documents available for public review. 

If you wish to comment on the EA, you may post comments online at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/EdisonParkNJ by September 3, 2024 

Comment Now:  National Park Service - PEPC - Thomas A Edison Change in Program of Utilization Environmental Assessment -Submit Comments (nps.gov)

or mail with post mark of September 3,,2024 to: Diane Keith, NER Program Manager National Park Service Federal Lands to Parks c/o 54 Portsmouth St. Concord, NH 03301

 Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

 Informational Presentation on the Thomas A. Edison Park Environmental Assessment 

Click here for the presentation

Thursday August 29, 2024, 7pm Clara Barton First Aid Squad 1079 Amboy Ave. Edison

Middlesex Greenway Coalition Meeting

All this will be destroyed and replaced with pavement and plastic!

What is going on?

Middlesex County has been trying to sneak in a Destination Athletic Complex, by not making all documents available to the public.  They have refused to make public the "Community Opportunity Strategic Investment Plan" which they finalized in November 2022.

They have not told the public how much this is going to cost.  Bids of $62 Million have been rejected.

 Who will they have running it?

A Destination Athletic Complex will draw teams from all over the North East, making the park not available for Middlesex County residents.  They will charge big fees for the use of the plastic fields.  Who will get that money?

Proposed Destination Sports Complex 

This is what the County wants to do.  14 plastic fields.  1300 parking spaces.  11 acres of woods removed. 

2022 Middlesex County Open Space Plan.  Pages 229, 230

Thomas A. Edison Park

Map of the existing Thomas A. Edison Park.

In February 2022 the Middlesex County Planning Board held a public hearing via zoom, and adopted the 2022 Open Space Plan.  

The document says nothing about a Destination Athletic Complex in Edison Park!  

Edison Park. Parking lot site. All trees to be removed.

Environmental Screening Form submitted to NPS 9/2023
Change in Program of Utilization

Middlesex County was required to submit an Environmental Screening Form to the National Park Service.  It is full of misinformation, and mentions information not provided with the document.

The Environmental Screening Form says "see the attached Middlesex County: Community, Innovation and Opportunity, Innovation and Opportunity Strategic Investment Plan.  Yet the "CIO PLAN" . But it was not attached, and when requested through OPRA , only the rendering of the fields was provided.

The County is required to  amend the 1964 Program of Utilization for the park.

Click on the link to see what the County has been telling the National Park Service.  Like the Environmental Screening Form, it is full of misinformation.

This is the blank form the Middlesex County had to follow to give the NPS information.  The County did not answer all the questions.

 

Environmental Screening Form with NPS Comments 
Page 1, Page 2
Page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,

See how the NPS had to ask for more information from the County about the complex.  Including questions about the plastic turf.

Letter dated September 2023 informing the County that the ESF was deficient, and an Environmental Assessment is needed.

Traffic Issues

Middlesex County applied for a $10 million grant to build a new road to the Destination Sports Complex.

Letter from NJDOT to the County Engineer about the grant.  No public hearings were held about this.

Instead of using the money to fix our existing County roads, intersections. 

Map dated January 2023 of the route of the Raritan Center Parkway Extension.

This would create a through road from Raritan Center to Mill Rd. further destroying the park.

Allowing trucks and cars to use the park as a through road.

The application says nothing about the Destination Athletic Complex.

The study was done when Edison Park was closed!  It mis-names the college.  Says the College is "saturated" on Mill Rd.!

"CIO PLAN"

Middlesex County Community, Innovation and Opportunity Strategic Investment Plan.

Finalization of the Plan announce on November 1, 2022, but the details of the plan have not been made public.  Despite numerous Open Public Records requests, only promotional pieces about the plan have been seen.

 

Click here for "project description"   This is what Middlesex College has been giving to funders of the "CIO Plan"

Grant Applications for the Destination Athletic Complex

Click here for the $8.5 million Department of Community Affairs Grant Application for Rec Youth Sports Application Athletic Complex

                  Information about the 5,000 seat stadium the County wants to build at

                                                          Mill Rd. and Woodbridge Ave.

Middlesex College wants to use $20million in COVID relief monies to build a stadium and sports bar.

CIO Plan is still not available to the public as of 12-21-2023 even though it is mentioned in a bond ordinance legal notice.

 

200 Million Dollar Bond Ordinance

Public Hearing November 13, 2023 7:00pm

The only public information so far on the bond ordinance.

The Ordinance does not give any details about how much money will be spent on the plastic fields.

The "CIO Plan" which this will fund is still not available to the public.

 

On October 27, Middlesex County published a legal notice requesting bids to demolish Edison Park and build the 14 plastic fields.  This is before the required Environmental Assessment and approval by the National Park Service.

The low bid was: $62,000,000

High bid was: $67,000,000.

 

 

Edison Park Contamination by the US Army 

Edison Park was part of Raritan Arsenal from 1917-1964.  It was heavily contaminated by the Army including exploded munitions.

Since the 1990s the Army has been cleaning up the site.  It may be ok for recreation use,  but is it ok for the massive construction project Middlesex County is planning for the site.  Click on links below for the Army reports.

What is a Destination Athletic Complex

Plastic Field Information

Are Plastic Fields Toxic?
 You Decide

Good information about plastic fields by a group in Westfield. 

How you can help

The National Park Service will have a public comment period, be prepared to comment.

Spread the word about this website, and the destruction of Edison Park.

Help Save Thomas Edison Park.   Comment during the Environmental Assessment Comment Period.

 

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