Controversy Swirls over Site of Proposed Mosque

Mountaintop Road entrance to Redwood Inn,  left of the sign.

Monday evening, February 28, at 7 PM, Bridgewater Township’s Planning Board will meet in the Performing Arts Auditorium of the Somerset County Vocational & Technical School on 14 Vogt Drive, in Bridgewater.

Auto on Mountaintop Road passes by Redwood Inn entrance.

Heavy attendance is expected, because this meeting was rescheduled from a prior one at the Bridgewater Municipal Complex, due to an over-capacity audience which was so large, that the meeting never got off the ground. 

Two related items appear On Monday’s Planning Board agenda: 

1) An application for land development on the site of the no-longer-operating Redwood Inn on Mountaintop Road, submitted by the Chughtai Foundation for the construction of a mosque.

An Evanescent Sunrise Visits Bridgewater

Dick Bergeron, Feb 26, 2011, 6:28 AM

As she rose this morning behind the Second Watchung Mountain in Bridgewater, dawn was beautiful, but brief and fickle. 

She cast a soft, pink backlight behind the few clouds that had managed to separate themselves from a solid overcast of gray -- then she quickly shut off the lights, returning the eastern sky into a dim, colorless dome over the hills.

It was one of the most episodic sunrises that I have observed – only a few seconds in duration; then it vanished, before brightening the skies again much later. 

Nature is like that.  She is whimsical and passionately private, refusing to reveal her secrets to us.  We never know for sure what she will do next, as her behavior this winter has proven so decisively. 

Bridgewater-Raritan Gets Increased School Aid from Trenton

Late this afternoon, the New Jersey Department of Education released its district-by-district school aid numbers, and the Bridgewater-Raritan School District will get $6,717,763, an increase of $1,331,546 over last year’s school aid.

 In my last blog post this morning, I had estimated that, if Governor Christie came through with “a full 1% hike in aid to the B-R School District,” as was being reported in the press, that the B-R School District would receive “approximately $1.3 million” more in state aid.

Trenton came through, and that’s what happened.

As it turns out, the last tentative Bridgewater-Raritan School budget presented on January 25^th included an assumption for school aid of only $4,623,537, a reduction, not an increase from last year. 

This means that the School Board and the Administration are now looking at another $807,933 that is available from their prior, low estimate of school aid.  This number, when added to the $1,331,546 increase announced by the state this afternoon, makes a total of $2,139,479 more that is available to help in funding the budget.

Let’s hope that it is not allocated to salary and benefit increases.

Tentative Bridgewater-Raritan School Budget Due for a Rework.

On Wednesday, April 27^th, residents of Raritan and Bridgewater will be voting on the budget for the new school year beginning July 1^st, 2011, as well as for the selection of three School Board members. 

On January 25^th, Superintendent Michael Schilder, speaking on behalf of the School Board, presented a tentative budget of $127.9 million to the public, one which has seen no changes since then. 

That budget number included a projection which assumed a loss of state aid.  At the time, Schilder indicated that no alternative budget scenarios would be presented to the public, until definitive state aid information is forthcoming from Trenton.

Yesterday, when Governor Christie presented his proposed state budget to the legislature, he included provisions for an increase in state aid to school districts, while indicating that all districts would receive an increase, but that none would see a bump in aid of more that 1% of its total budget. 

Actual state aid numbers are due to be released to individual school districts today.  An early morning call placed to the office of Peter Starrs, School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, confirmed that the Bridgewater-Raritan District had not yet received any indication of its aid number.

However, a full 1% hike in aid to the B-R School District – if it is forthcoming – would be approximately $1.3 million.  

Filing Deadline Nears for B-R School Board Candidates

The deadline for candidates to file nominating petitions for the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education is only two weeks from today, Tuesday, March 8.  If you are thinking about running for one of the three open positions – one for Raritan and two for Bridgewater – but are not sure, click here to get more information.

There are nine members on this Board, and elections take place every year in April, on a rotating basis.  Three positions open up yearly, each one for a three-year term.  In recent years, incumbents have tended to run unchallenged.

This tendency seems to be holding; because, as of Tuesday afternoon, only the three current office holders have filed nominating positions for the seats up for grabs. 

The incumbents who have already filed are Evan D. Lerner and Arvind Mathur, for Bridgewater; and Al Smith, for Raritan.