Is the township council bending towards a special public meeting to discuss the open space issue in Moorestown? It certainly seems that way, as several of the council members expressed a desire to sit down with several open space groups in Moorestown to find amicable middle ground to an issue that has been at the forefront of township politics since 2009.
Members of council asked Township Clerk Patricia Hunt to find a day to hold a special meeting with open space groups and the public to discuss a solution to the open space funding issue in Moorestown. A recent referendum petition was rejected in July by the township solicitor Thomas Coleman III that would have asked voters in the township to limit the way that council could spend money from the open space fund.
Council Member Stacey Jordan said it is most likely too late to put the referendum question on this year’s ballot for the Nov. 8 general election.
“Getting it on the ballot for this year will be hard, but I support a special meeting to just discuss these issues,” she said.
Representatives from Save the Environment of Moorestown, Moorestown Save Open Space, and Concerned Moorestonians presented the township with a petition of nearly 1,500 signatures from township residents who protested the expenditure of money from the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund for active recreation.
The Moorestown Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund was created via referendum, it contains money collected through a one-cent open space tax per $100 of assessed home value.
Betsy Schnorr, president of STEM, previously said her group has contended that the original intent of the fund was not to be spent on active recreation. The township spent nearly $217,000 from the fund on engineering, design, and bidding expenses for phase one of the K.I.D.S initiative, which includes the construction of turf athletic fields.
“We need to look at the global solution for this issue,” Council Member Chris Chiacchio said.
