The children of Parsippany deserve to have quality fields to play on . We are not keeping the kids in our mind when people are against this project . The fields will be used by everyone in Parsippany. I am a pound parent and resident of Paraippany hope everyone is willing to move forward on this project keeping in mind all the time it affects the children of Parsippany. Remember isn't Parsippany "the place to be". .

Another meeting and another declaration by the Mayor that he has the authority to decide whether the FOD propoal is good for Parsippany. Another meeting and another declaration by the Mayor that he is a strong proponent of the FOD proposal. Another meeting and another declaration by the Mayor that he doesn't yet have the answers to the many funding, neighborhood impact, usage and safety questions that relate to the FOD proposal. Another meeting and another declaration by the Mayor that, under his leadership, the horse will be placed before the cart and the details be damned. Another meeting and another demonstration that the Mayor is way over his head and the residents of Parsippany are about to once again pay for his inexperience and lack of leadership

Interesting that last night was the "first time" the Town Council members heard about the FOD proposal. And now an ordinance is being proposed "by name only" and no content yet (still being researched and written) which seems intended to revise the Open Space Committee's function and use of funding and/or replace its citizen members. This needs to be a referendum, not a power play. This ordinance "may" be introduced next week. Then (or before it is passed), it will receive a public hearing. Stay tuned, citizens of Parsippany Troy Hills.

Where have the board of education and superintendent been for the past 5+ years as these fields have been deteriorating? I pay over $12k a year in peoperty tax and have no kids. I assumed all these years I've lived in a well run district. Seems i need to have more of an interest in BOE before having kids!!! We've gone above the salary cap for the superintendent (about $220k/year) for years, and I would hope parents have been vocal in demanding field upkeep and making sure that salary, paid by tax dollars, is well earned. Shouldn't he/she have been there last night to be vocal? I'd be embarrassed to say that I'm a parent with a kid in either high school, who claims to be an active and involved parent, and that we've passed school budgets year after year without considering (or I should say demanding) the fields be upkept for safety at the very least. How did they get this crappy? How many years of disregard has it taken to get here? Why is it now the town's responsibility to deal with? (I smell a ton of special interest, private teams wanting more fields which drives this -- so it is less about the school kids and more about the town at this point). I'm not opposed to the fields. I'm absolutely in support of our athletes, their safety, and pride in our faciliies. I'm opposed to open use which would have teams in my yard (within 50 ft of my property line) day and night year round.

I moved within feet of a high school - and that's the way I'd like to keep it. I'm the odd one who would rather pay more taxes to preserve the field for HS's than make it open use.

So, I volunteer my voice to help with battling the superintendent and school board. Let's brainstorm on ways, such as bond sales, to fund this for the BOE and school kids...and let's leave the town use out of it. After all, we as taxpayers own the BOE land and we likely have more power than we think. There are plenty of other parks for private use once the 2 high schools are properly equipped and can be used exclusively by HS teams. And, whatever outside team use of HS fields currently exists, which is acceptable, would remain nominal.

Before you peg people on just being "for" or "against," let's take a look at why we're here in the first place and how we, as taxpayers, can innovate around this. Selling out 51% of interest in school fields for at least 15 years may leave for a much bigger argument in the future...

Kristen - as any FYI, if you can believe it, about 10 years ago the parents did go to the BOE (in force) and demanded better upkeep of the fields and they at least did start with regular maintenance: aeration, seeding, fertilizer, etc. However, even 10 years ago the fields were pretty bad. As a very active and involved parent for the past 15 years, my family as well as many, many other families have spent hours upon hours trying to put the band aids on the PHHS fields - through our own time and money. However, we have done all we can at this time.

I completely understand the questions and concerns from the residents of the areas surrounding the school and I think councilman DePierro assured the residents last night that we can make this work if we work together.

Councilman DePierro has told my neighbors when they talked to him to express their concerns that they shouldn't worry because what was good for Jannarone Park will be good for the neighborhoods surrounding the Parsippany High and Parsippany Hills football fields.Councilman DePierro appears to have conveniently forgotten that Jannarone Field is located in a industrial park off Route 46 well removed from private residences while many of our homes are less than 50 feet feet from the about to be turfed fields. Perhaps Mr. DePierro's words are reassuring to FOD proponents who live nowhere near the fields But to those of us who do live near the fields, Mr. DePierro's assurances ring a bit hollow. Mr. DePierro knows better and the residents of Parsippany deserve better from their elected officials.

Beth - Again, I am MORE than fine with this for HS teams. I accept that because I moved near a HS. But, you can be sure that if the town invests millions into this, they'll fill up the calendar. I want the fields in pristine condition for our championship HS athletes. I want pride in the school I live 50 feet from. I don't want a public use, busy park in my yard. Not at all.

There must be better ways to get this done for the HS teams without needing an open use park. If I were a HS, there's no way Id want to give up majority stake in my home fields. Not sure why, after a 10 year fight, the school is willing to give up majority interest in the fields they care so much about.

Working together to help the HS kids I one thing. Working together to open up an unneeded public, additional field is another thing. it's a high school field and should be kept as that.

I'll be at BOE meeting Thursday to hear what happens there. Let's get creative as citizens, parents, neighbors, etc and not rely on government taking over and letting us borrow our own HS fields back from them!!

"The mayor ran through a list of a host of projects taken on since 2007, among them improvements to recreational equipment—and artificial turf fields—at township parks Smith Field, Jannerone Field and Veterans Park.

"The total amount used over that time [is] $3,175,887," he said. "You've been hearing that open space dollars cannot be used for recreation. As you can see, it has been used for recreation."

Parks are the definition of Open Space! Is he serious? He had to be joking. No one would say that and be serious.

Next week, the Town Council is going to change the ordinance on Open Space. That should raise a few eyebrows, no?

I'm curious where all these voices were when the state took 9 million dollars from our schools a few years ago and we lost over 20 teachers. I'm curious how these new found voices think we can solve a problem like improving our fields when there's a 2% cap that barely allows us to keep the things we do have in our schools at the level we have now without even considering improvements. I think the time for these monies to have come out of the boe budget are long gone with the new regulations in place and I applaud the creativity of those who have been able to see past these stumbling blocks to continue to try and improve the services we offer our community and the facilities we have for our children. When other districts have cut middle school sports entirely, here we have a group of people trying to make sure that fate doesn't come to our town and they seem to have found a way to do it that doesn't mean we have to sacrifice education or school roofs and boilers or increased taxes to do it. The thought of having one of our soccor club teams use a school field at 2pm on a Sunday or 7pm on a Thursday night in July seems like a pretty simple and painless exchange for the benefits the field will offer to our students.

Mr. Taylor - again the OSTF is not "found money" - some surplus that we're tapping into. Mark Zuckerberg didn't gift that on us - it came out of your pocket and many of us think it should stay on the municipal side. There's been very little discussion as to what else is competing for that. There seems to be so much grassroots support around this - but we can't get past the idea of "our taxes might go up a few dollars if we make the accountable party actually pay for it".

Man, this is still going on? Over it.

Let's get away from the emotional part -- "oh, it's for the KIDS" -- and pay more attention to the legality of this action, and the economics that will impact the town.

The mayor is a decent, honest person, new to a tough job, and it looks like he's trying to walk the usual thin line between different interests. But ultimately, decisions like this are rarely made publicly, but rather, are "closed-door deals". So let's see how accurately the final outcome reflects the expressed wishes of the people.

Mr Brancato you may be right but with a 2% cap we know the maximum our taxes will increase for at least as long as that law stays in place. I don't know if 49% of maintaining a turf field is less or more then the cost of what we have now but it would seem to me that would end up in the boe budget just like field costs are included now. No matter how you view this part, the 2% cap covers it so I'm unclear how you see this project raising taxes?

Maybe it's time to finance these felds like the pros do.Take the New York Giants they play at Met Life stadum,the Indianapolis Colts play at Luke Oil Stadum. Maybe it's come of time for companies from parsippany adopt a field.

Mrs McNulty we all know that a 2% cap allows for an increase in the tax levy but my point was that the maintenance of the fields, no matter what kind of field it is, will have to be included in that budget. And the 2% cap is for as long as the law is in place. If a school district has credit from one year to the next like they do this year it's only because the budget was well under cap previously.

Mr Wyka I think I may have misunderstood your concern? So it's not that you think the money for the fields should come from the boe, it's that you feel if that money is used for the fields there are other projects that will be at risk?

I absolutely think that the funds should come from the BOE. I've said in previous posts that today it's the fields, tomorrow a science or computer lab - to which there's probably no "creative" solution for those than to just pay it in the most efficient, cost-effective, way possible. $10 or whatever it takes. But that's me.

Peter and Monica - TWO VERY IMPORTANT POINTS
1. The Open Space Committee already voted - and the result was a tie - which means it is a "no" not approved. So what did this mayor do? He had his attorney come out with a statement saying it does not matter what the OSC votes, he can proceed regardless.
2. Because he apparently would rather still proceed with their approval, last week, he pitched his idea at the Open Space Committee once again. He made his points and he said - the following meeting, he is going to call for another vote.

The entire process is a complete joke, they already tied which in their rules equals a No - so the Mayor wants them to vote again, hoping for a yes the next time around. All the while, his attorney says they can proceed without the approval, and lets not forget the Elephant in the Room which is the fact that the Mayor is the Chair of the Open Space Committee and controls their meeting agendas.

We all want better ball fields for our high school STUDENTS.
FOD is not about solving the problem of poor field conditions.. it's a single solution that happens to appear attactive as long as you don't look into the true cost and risk. Seems this has moved from providing save fields for our high school students to a more elaborate plan for the local sports clubs
Step back an look at this proposal :
1. We have 3 lighted turf fields. That's more than any town in NJ. Will tax payers of PTH believe we NEED 2 MORE??
2. The proposal requires use of~$350,000 of the available $600,000 OSTF. EACH YEAR for 15 YEARS! has anyone done the math? The total payments with interest is over $5.2 million. - what if we need OSTF $ for some other project?
3. The manufacturer of the turf fields did a study of more than 1000 installations . It showed that the turf fields are replaced after 8 - 10 years. $320,000 to replace Veterans (fact), so 2 fields and two tracks will be at least $800,000. This is being totally ignored... No plan what so ever for this huge problem.

The Mayor should leave the issue with the BOE. The BOE owns the fields. We should hold them responsible to provide for our student athletes. I hope people wake up before it's too late. The tax payers need to know what's happening with their OSTF $. Someone (FOD) is taking claim to about $5.2 million of it, and creating a huge problem in 8 -10yrs... and the average taxpayer has no idea --- seems almost criminal.

A formal complaint, which will trigger an investigation, will be filed with Eileen Brennan tomorrow with the State Board of Ethics with regards to Mayor Barberio being involved in this project. The fact that as a Director of the Parsippany PAL and as a member of the Open Space Committe he did not recuse himself from voting on this matter is criminal. There is a glaring conflict of interest. I can only assume the State Board of Ethics will see this as well and this entire process will be put to a halt. IT IS ILLEGAL!

Mr. Taylor, you said, "Based on your comments, If the BOE was to find the funds to do this project, then you would be in full support of it. Thats is good to hear."

That isn't what I said. I said the kids need new fields -- which is apparent. Whether it's turf or grass, we need engineers and studies to tell us which is better. With regard to lights, I don't think they're needed at PHHS, since they've done fine without them. The track at PHHS is ok, and at PHS needs to be worked on. Do lanes need to be added at both? I don't think so.

So, I am in support of bringing the fields up to par, and spending the money necessary to make them safe. But I am not in support of piling on additional things that we can't afford and aren't necessary. If the BoE finds the funds to do this - which I think they have somewhere - then the fields should be looked at.

Hope this clarification helps.

@Paul - you say the "town spends too much on sports in thIs town and not enough on education." I don't believe I saw you at the BOE budget meeting, correct me if I'm wrong, but there is nearly $140M of a budget with little to nothing allotted to the sport fields. Literally in the tens of thousands on uniforms and equipment falling apart, and some line items for basic maintenance of the fields -- and millions (the balance) on books, tablets, teachers, administration and building upkeep, etc. Not sure how you'll quantify your statement since 62 cents of every tax dollar goes to BoE... The only angle I'll agree with you on with that statement is that the soccer teams don't pay for town owned field use...so the town not collecting money for a LOT of use could equate to a spend since the fields need upkeep. Can you better explain yourself with that statement?

As a resident who abuts the Hills of Troy Park best of luck to those who live near the high schools. This is a bad move by an administration that is in over its head and needs to be voted out.