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Opinions take shape on Trophy Park application in Jackson

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JACKSON – The director of the New Jersey Sierra Club has expressed concern about the impact on the environment if a proposed multipurpose athletic complex is constructed at Route 537 and Hawkin Road in Jackson.

Trophy Park is an application before the Jackson Planning Board. The initial hearing was conducted on Dec. 3 and the public hearing is expected to continue on Feb. 4.

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The applicant is proposing to develop a 194-acre parcel with indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, restaurants and hotels. Initial testimony indicated Trophy Park would have the ability to host 2,000 athletes per week as those athletes participate in tournaments and sports camps.

The Trophy Park property is in the vicinity of Prospertown Lake, the Six Flags Great Adventure theme park and a recreation facility that is being developed on Route 537 near Interstate 195 by Vito Cardinale.

Trophy Park has drawn the attention of Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. In a statement issued prior to the Planning Board hearing, he said, “An environmentally sensitive area in the Pinelands is being threatened by a massive sprawl project. The project would destroy 200 acres in the Pinelands next to a state-owned wildlife management area.

“The project site is outside protected areas of the Pinelands, but is still critical Pinelands forest. Trophy Park will cause more traffic, more runoff and sprawl in the area. There are plenty of alternative sites on existing developed land for this sports complex to be built that would not cause as much environmental damage,” Tittel said.

Trophy Park would be south of Great Adventure, built along the banks of Prospertown Lake and the Prospertown Wildlife Management Area, according to the Sierra Club.

The Sierra Club said that because of the proposed site’s environmentally sensitive ecosystems, the applicant would have to apply for permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

“The site has endangered and threatened species like the corn snake and pine snake, and sensitive wetlands. … The park will need stream encroachment, flood hazard, wetlands, and storm water permits,” Tittel said. “The massive sports complex and hotel would bring more cars and more people into the environmentally sensitive area.

“… There are plenty of developed areas where this massive sports complex could be built without causing so much environmental damage. If we want to help redevelop the cities, this project would be a great opportunity for brownfield sites in Camden, Kearny or Trenton,” he said.

There are individuals who are supporting Trophy Park. When the application was heard by the Planning Board on Dec. 3, Lynn Canfield, vice president of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, was in attendance with many local union workers who wanted to show their support for the project.

“We support the application because we have a lot of members who live in Jackson and it would supply them with work,” Canfield said.

Tom DeBartolo, president of the Monmouth and Ocean County Building and Construction Trades Council, was also in attendance at the Dec. 3 meeting.

DeBartolo said Alan Nau, “who is the driving force behind this project, has always been a supporter of the building and union trades and he wanted to make sure local people and local residents who work in the area got onto the project.”

He said Nau has provided assurances Trophy Park would be constructed by union employees.

Trophy Park “would create hundreds of construction jobs and to make sure they come from the area, (Nau) wanted to use local union hiring halls. This way we are assured that residents of Ocean and Monmouth counties would be on the project.

“We are in support of the project because (Nau) wants to use local people and residents who would support the park, their children would obviously use the park, it would bring in a lot of revenue to the town and surrounding areas, basically what was laid out at the meeting. (Trophy Park) would be good all around for the residents who live in the area and support the area,” DeBartolo said.

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