Proposed New Millville High School Location

Well, I had to miss a forum held Thursday October 15th about where the new Millville High School will be built but Jason LaDay wrote a good article in Friday's News of Cumberland County.
This is my ongoing report on the process of having a new high school built in Millville New Jersey. You can see my previous reports on the Route 55 blog.

John Hamilton, a real estate official for the SDA, went through the four principal possibilities of the new school site, listing what the authority will be considering when weighing their options as to where the final choice will go.
They included:
~ Cedar Street, across from Bogden Road:
Pros included adequate land and water/sewer availability.
A downside there includes added construction costs toward soundproofing against noise from the municipal airport and the New Jersey Motorsports Park.

~ Unused portion of the Four Seasons development, near the intersection of Cedarville and Buckshutem roads:
Also features adequate land and sewer/water hookups.
However, there is a higher anticipated cost to acquire the land due to the site already having been approved for additional senior housing.
In addition, Millville fire and police officials have expressed concerns as to emergency response times. The city and residents have also broached traffic concerns.

~ The city industrial park, on Gorton Road:
Possesses required amount and land as well as sewer/water connections.
Cons include an active freight rail line that would impede entry to the school as well as bring potentially hazardous materials through a school zone.
Emergency officials also brought up response time concerns.

~ West Main Street, west of Smith Road:
With the most amount of residents present at the forum opposing this location, they raised homemade sings listing the various problems this location would cause.
According to the SDA, the site provides enough land available for future school expansion and would reduce the impact a new high school would cause on existing residential neighborhoods.
In addition, Hamilton stated there is "sizable" commercial development planned for the area west of Smith Street, and a new high school would already be there to accommodate the increased activity there.
However, they admitted to problems with sewer and water connections, stating the required permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection would delay the project anywhere between three to five years.

"We're looking at about eight or nine sites right now," said Murphy. "There's a lot to be said for the west side of the city; there's a lot of space and 20 to 30 years from now, there will be a lot of development (We will have to see!)

Some facts about the new high school revealed at the forum:
The SDA will spend $163 million toward all studies and construction of the school.
~ However, it does not pay for water and sewage connections.
~ Will accommodate 2,300 students from grades nine through 12.
~ A total of 356,288 square feet in size.
~ Will include business and health classrooms, special education classrooms a media center library and music and art rooms.

Next steps:
The city commission and board of education must now take include submitting written reports on each potential site on whether they are owned by the City of Millville, the school district or private citizens.
The SDA along with the N.J. Department of Education will then review the sites in writing, forwarding its opinions to the school district.
From there, the district will identify up to three locations for final consideration following a public hearing, and the SDA and N.J. DOE will run feasibility

I will have to check out a few of these meetings and see what's up. I hope that I get feedback on this so I can be better informed. The process is drawn out and needs to be watched by all Millville Residents

Notify property owners first about school site

Here is a letter printed in today's Daily Journal.. She make a very good point that the process for choosing the new school has been very secret. The Facilities Committee of the Board of Education is the place to ask questions. They have worked on this issue for about 2 years.

Notify property owners first about school site
I feel I must write in response to an article printed in The Daily Journal on June 26 regarding the new Millville High School.

Last week I took a few days off to vacation with family and friends. When I came home on Friday evening I had already received two calls on my cell phone, three calls on my home phone and five people who had stopped by my house. All of the calls were as a result of an article in Friday's paper regarding the eight sites being considered for the new high school.

Imagine my surprise when I got home and saw my beautiful home on the front page of the paper -- not because of its appearance, but because it is one of the eight sites being considered! The article stated "not all the property owners know the land is under consideration for the new school." I can vouch for that! We had no clue. We found out that they are thinking of building a school on our property by reading it in the newspaper!

At a family function the next day, our friends were joking that they were going to put a sign in our front yard that says "Future Home of Millville Senior High School." We didn't find the joke funny.

The article said that of the eight properties, the school board would decide on the final three and a "resolution would be adopted at the July 21 meeting." A resolution being "adopted" means the issue has already been resolved. That means that the final three have already been chosen by the time the July 21 meeting rolls around. I called the board office to get more information and to find out the location and time of the meeting and it was at that time that I learned that a meeting had already been held the night before. I then learned that the final three had in fact been chosen! The board will apparently submit the three finalists to the state at a meeting to be held next week. I have been advised that the discussions are under closed session and not open to the public!
I find this appalling. Common courtesy would have been to contact the property owners first. We built our house only four years ago and have put a lot of ourselves into it, not to mention a lot of money! I think the people involved in this transaction need to contact all people involved and keep them apprised of the developments of this school project. But, of course, that would be too considerate and more aggravation for them because of the stir it would cause.
Well, most of my neighbors and I are ready to cause that stir
Jeannette Pace
Millville

New High School

I wanted to share this with you.
This is from the News of Cumberland County in the BEN


" It appears that some influential Millville citizens may be advocating for building the new high school on the Union Lake tract next to Woodland Shores and Oakland Estates.

"Now that the housing developers, Matzel & Mumford, have backed out, the tract is up for grabs.

"Wawa, owner of the land, will present its own proposal for building housing at the next planning board meeting.

"But, if that doesn't fly, the city may be eyeing the land for the new high school, which requires 100+ acres for ballfields, etc.

"Should a high school be built on this land, the likelihood of a peaceful, conserved environment on the lakeshore is pretty dismal."

A Millville Observer

Locaton of the New Millville High School

The Millville Board of Education released the 8 sites of where a new High School might be located.
The eight locations under consideration by the Millville Board of Education for a new high school include:
East Main Street, east of Holly Heights -- 100 acres
West Main Street, west of Nabb Avenue -- 68.5 acres
West Main Street, west of Smith Road -- 82 acres
West Main Street, east of Smith Road -- 74 acres
West Main Street, west of Hogbin Road -- 61 acres
Cedarville and Buckshutem roads -- 60-80 acres
Gorton Road in the Industrial Park -- 80 acres
Cedarville Road, across from Bogden Boulevard -- 70 acres

This school is going to be so large that NO sites are in center of Millville. This means more busing and less children can walk to school. Kids living in Center City and Third Ward will be most inconvienced. I suppose this is progress. My belief is the first one listed above, the 100 acre site is the preferred site. The Daily Journal had to file an OPRA request to get this information. This is what I have heard. According to The Daily Journal:

"Business Administrator Bryce Kell said if an agreement is reached, the board will pass a resolution at its July 20 meeting to officially submit the three finalists to the SDA. The authority will then begin to negotiate for the land. The district has considered properties all over the city, and ultimately came up with a list of 25 potential candidates, including a few owned by the city. The district pared down that list to the final eight, based on various factors, including potential price"
I hope I have time to attend this July 20 meeting and I think that folks need to show up at school board meetings. This is our children's future and your tax dollars.

Monday January 9th: Fire!

Yesterday was somewhat uneventful except for this HUGE apartment fire at 49th and Walnut Streets in West Philadelphia. It gutted the entire complex and 100 folks were left homeless. I used to live a block away until 2004. I could see the smoke from 57th and Sansom Streets when I left work. Here is a video I took off a West Philly website

Related articles

• 4-story Philly apartment complex evacuated in fire (sfgate.com)
• Huge blaze routs 89 families from apartments in W. Phila. (philly.com)

Here is the view that I had from where I work. It was about 5:15pm to about 5:30 when I took this video.

I received email updates on a email list.

During the peak of the fire at 48th and Walnut for about half an hour (~5:20pm) they were on top of West Phila. High School deluging its roof with water from fire hoses - so that the embers would not ignite the School's roof.


The wet streets like 48th at Spruce, have been frozen for some time now, and in such spots, are incredibly slippery.


Hopefully they will prevent the Garages where the High School teaches Auto Mechanics from catching... looks like at least six buildings were involved when I left the scene ~ a couple hours ago. Probably most of the firefighters had almost just about recouped their energies from having fought the Charter School fire Saturday.

The latest as of 9pm

"Perusing some web sites: One erroneous account quotes the Mayor as saying PFD was able to keep fire confined to a single bldg. at 48th & Walnut. Another wrongly describes the three buildings as being along Walnut... the three buildings are along 48th running from Walnut to Locust. It appeared clear to me there had been involvement of building(s) just behind (west) of the Windemere Apts. I am still waiting for new reports confirming this or not.
Other updates:
"About 100 people were evacuated and taken across the street to a temporary Red Cross shelter set up at West Philadelphia High School. About 75 of those residents including five small children had to be moved to the Locke Alain School at 4550 Haverford Ave. because of thickening smoke near the fire location."
"The fire caused the Philadelphia School District to cancel school Tuesday at West Philly High and Henry Lea Elementary School"

A 532-unit housing complex near Union Lake?

Last Thursday night I attended the Millville Planning Board meeting. City Engineer John Knoop stated that Millville may not be ready for the new residents and the sprawl. YIKES!! Shelly Schneider,spoke and said that only 3 to 4 buses would be at the proposed school location near Woodland Shores since most kids would walk. She said a NEW high school is the #1 on the list and any school built near the lake would be at LEAST 10 years away. Earlier one of the School Board Members Michael Beatty spoke and said the land would be a good location for a school, but that potential project is low on the district's list of building priorities. Most of the neighbors complained about how traffic on Sharp is going to be even WORSE then is already is now. A person came up with absurd notion to say its ok to build if there is NO access to it. (helicopter access anyone? ) That would be a good image to sketch. Anyone who draws a sketch please let me know and I will put on this blog!!! Some said they did not want "AFFORDABLE HOUSING". One of the planning board members (thankfully) asked Kim Warker to define what "affordable housing" is. Dave McCann made a very factual presentation that had numbers and quoted regs that would limit the scope of the development. The planning board is to work with the city staff and reps from the Developer. The Planning Board may announce the date for a work session to discuss traffic issues on the Matzel and Mumford housing proposal near Union lake at its next meeting at City hall at 12 S. High St. March 10 at 7:30 p.m. Here is a recent article I saw in the AC Press

Proposed Housing Development NIXED!

According to reliable sources, the developer has withdrawn his application
Below is a post I wrote this past February concerning this project. The traffic problems and the current state of the economy are believed to be the nail on the coffin. I hear that Matzel and Mumford spent about 2 million to try to get this project passed.



Date: Feb 23rd 2008
"Millville may not be ready for the new residents and the sprawl. YIKES!! Shelly Schneider,spoke and said that only 3 to 4 buses would be at the proposed school location near Woodland Shores since most kids would walk. She said a NEW high school is the #1 on the list and any school built near the lake would be at LEAST 10 years away. Earlier one of the School Board Members Michael Beatty spoke and said the land would be a good location for a school, but that potential project is low on the district's list of building priorities. Most of the neighbors complained about how traffic on Sharp is going to be even WORSE then is already is now. A person came up with absurd notion to say its ok to build if there is NO access to it. (helicopter access anyone? ) That would be a good image to sketch. Anyone who draws a sketch please let me know and I will put on this blog!!! Some said they did not want "AFFORDABLE HOUSING". One of the planning board members (thankfully) asked Kim Warker to define what "affordable housing" is. Dave McCann made a very factual presentation that had numbers and quoted regs that would limit the scope of the development. The planning board is to work with the city staff and reps from the Developer. The Planning Board may announce the date for a work session to discuss traffic issues on the Matzel and Mumford housing proposal near Union lake at its next meeting at City hall at 12 S. High St. March 10 at 7:30 p.m. Here is a recent article I saw in the AC Press"

Sunday, July 9: A Walk to the Ben Franklin Bridge

Woke up to a sunny less humid day today. I wasn't sure I was
going to go to the club house but I decided I would. Set a load to the other roommate and wobble the long down Fairmont Avenue. I had two very detailed framesThe first one was I was wanting
 rom for Congress in the state of Ohio and the other one I was flying some airline or a really short flight to really stormy weather from a little college I was going to a small college somewhere in small town America. I went to club and the 8th Step was discissed. One dude was a bit insane. I have not seen him in awhile. He does have guts!  What
 decided to take a little walk to the Ben
 Franklin Bridge after high school and pick some help photos and videos.
 It's really
 nice it's warm but the ladies very low by Philadelphia standards. 
 t's now 11:18 AM and that's my track I'm going to edit my 
 log as I'm walking and text friends etc. taking a nice walk takes my mind off my resentments and 
 ork. I think that's a good thing. Well news outside my mental 

high school, Trump is calling for cooperation with Russia  Why
 am I not surprised? Why should anybody be surprised. It's one douche 
bag talking to another one.No wonder they get along. 
I took a 
 hort break at the Julius Erving mural that's right on Ridge Avenue. It came out later he fathered a child with a sports reporter. Yes she was pretty hot I suppose. 
It's true when you and cover things if everybody has some kind of stuff. There is much temptation and opportunity for Pro Fessional athletes to get the ladies. It's  not even funny
it's now 1201 I updated my blog while I had some shade at Ridge Avenue right next to Julius 
 Erving mural. That's mirrors held up well. It's nice out looks like the 
 louds are starting to gather probably in time for all the new thunderstorm. 
  just saw a very young looking woman going into a scrubby apartment in this
 area. It's definitely funky with a F around here. It does make for some interesting photographs
 however. I took a picture of a  David Lynch murel. This part of the city inspired him in a racer head and other movies I'm sure. All 
 round this  area there of been new house in built for Temple students and some of the yuppies as 
 ell. The funk near the trestle and 11th St. is still there. Also got a black and white silluette  of a yoga photographer. He had a yoga mat & backpack and a big old 
 amera and had to express the glory of him in his spot. Now I reach the Vine Street expressway.
 It is true just a bite city in half and I got to figure out how to

 get around it. Well I cross the bridge street expressway and I'm just going to take how the cars get to it. There's no magical way that the 
 ourist can go to it. I don't really think
 they promote walking across the bridge all that much here. I have to look up my last blog entry about the bridge I should be able to find it. 
 t's 82° that's why it's tolerable out here. On the way to the bridge I stop by what they call Franklin Square. It
 really looks like they renovated the place because the bathrooms actually opening clean there's a snack bar with some real food at it and I can cover up in the shade and update this blog 
 efore going on the bridge. Definitely a score. 
  was thinking of skipping going through here and glad I did because I'm hungry
 and I'm having a veggie burger right now. So I just heard from Pat he request a picture 
of him & Bishop. I do have that picture. Going to finish up m 
 y veggie burger hit the head and then take my journey across the bridge. 
 t is now 1:24 PM  well I managed to get across the traffic and cut through the lightning bolt 
 cripture the great you when you arrive in Philadelphia over the bridge. Well I'm glad that restaurant
 was there they made it a lot more fun. Where is science definitely beating down I'm glad I bought the 
 untan lotion or I would've have a parent head. Thanks man 
Thanks man 
 It's about the next day you can experience in Philadelphia weatherwise that's
 for sure. OK back to the outside world.
 I just read that Trump wants to partner with Russia on cyber security and to safeguard elections. Is that a joke or what? It's like the guysWho where is there  baseball hats backwards it's a bad joke. I was very fortunate
 to find one spot with shade so I can see what I was doing. The sun is so bright
 that it's hard to see the screen otherwise. Yeah it's now 3:03 PM. It might be time for me
 to turn around and go back. I'm starting to get a little tired and a bit of a pressure headache a bit. It's actually a 
 elief when the clouds come 

 n his knee a little chance to see my screen on the phone and give me a little breather for my life. Well apparently back on June 
13 a state representative from upper St. Clair near Pittsburgh with charged with a DUI. He had a .016 which 
is double the limit.  Of course, they delayed it for three weeks. Must be nice to be a 
 tate rep and have different rules baby. 
It's now 3:33 PM.  I took another pitstop in the shade and I'm gonna head back. Yeah I think I'm gonna go home and take a nap. It's starting to cool off a bit. 

 eah part of me is thinking of going on arch Street cats in the 48 home. I 

 eed to get my Sunday afternoon nap before my 7 o'clock meeting. 
 'll be hearing from Larry when he gets back from the grant state of Delaware. I had to take more breathers
 I'm out here for a little while. I can't wait to get something to drink. I think that list is up until

 seven so that's my next stop is to go back to that Franklin Square and get 
 omething to drink I feel a lot better. Why did hit Franklin Square and got myself a 
 old lemonade. It was three  ollars but the dude behind a cattle to funky and said 324 and then changed his mind. The breeding kept going and I decided I 

 can catch and 48 but if I could so I can get home quicker and get a nap and then take a shower. I was veryfortunate I cut the 48 as I was pulling upfortunately   the person was getting off so I didn't miss it. Well I did some updating on the
 blog and then I just relax on the bus for a little bit. I got home and there's 
 obody there. Sharon is with her dad. I went upstairs
 and crashed and took a nap. I got up around 6:20 PM and proceed to take a shower. I really 
 eeded that shower badly. I am currently just missed the seven bus had to wait an extra 10 minutes for the 48 bus. Well I got on the 48 bus and I was really fortunate that someone
 else had alread
 had set up the chairs and made the coffee because I was at least 15 minutes late. So I did some blog editing while waiting for 
Larry
 to indicate that he was here. As I arrived at Saxbys he already got his wife out to the
 meeting. He's very good about that. Large iced coffee and fortunately had cash
 because the credit card system at Saxbys brother
 Larry was talking to Fran about her his son. Yeah it's really nice out.