Middlesex College Development Plans

• Main Points

  • Edison Park, next to Middlesex College is currently Green Acres. The county commissioners are requesting a "Change of Use" to allow the cutting down of trees and plowing of the land to construct astro turf fields and parking lots.

  • A public/private partnership will likely be formed to administer and rent out the fields.  To pay for the cost of development, there will likely be tournaments held almost every non-winter weekend.  It is unclear how often the public can use the fields.

  • Email Adam.Taylor@dep.nj.gov (NJDEP Middlesex County Compliance Officer) and richard.lear@co.middlesex.nj.us (Middlesex County Director of Parks and Recreation) to submit public comments before April 12, 2023.  Please also BCC a local Our Revolution Middlesex member. 

• Main Links

  • Fill out our interest form to organize with Our Revolution Middlesex.

  • Site plan (also found in the link below).

  • Announcement for Hearing which was on Wednesday March 29th (recording below).

• Development Issues

  • Could be a $30 million - $40 million project, who is paying for it?

  • A private corporation will profit and the people of Edison will lose precious Green Space.

  • The area was previously an army depot.  Previous development found bombs and mustard gas.

  • Land is not flat, development will be complicated and costly.

• Environmental impacts

  • The loss of trees and natural land will reduce the amount of fresh air produced.

  • Tree replacement plan will need years to recover tree mass, will leave us with fewer tress and will provide less shade.

  • It will draw heat rather than absorb it in an area surrounded by parking lots and industry buildings.

  • Removal of walking trails for park visitors.

  • Flooding will likely become worse, the park is next to Raritan Center, offices buildings and warehouses and the loss of trees means less rain water will be absorbed.

• Traffic

  • Traffic study is not ready.

  • Single point of entry at Patrol Rd and Mill Rd.

  • Area is already overburdened with car traffic and may not support crowds for massive tournaments.

  • Poor mass transit opportunities.

• What is happening with the Middlesex College faculty union

  • There is money for development but no money for faculty and to replace staff.

  • Faculty union was not informed of the development until it was announced on social media.

Pat Payne is the president of the Middlesex College Faculty Union and Walter Stochel is a local historian/environmentalist from Edison