No Vacancy For Trinity Hall! Proposed Development Not A Fit For Historic Chapel Hill Neighborhood

The following blog post was submitted by Jennifer Valencia, a resident of Middletown's Chapel Hill area. Jennifer is a member of the Chapel Hill Neighborhood Group opposed to the choice of the Trinity Hall girls academy, to build its new school in their neighborhood, along Chapel Hill Road.  

--------

On March 19, 2014, the Middletown Township Planning Board will hold a third hearing concerning the application of Trinity Hall, LLC to subdivide a 67 acre tract of land on Chapel Hill Road and construct a high school campus on the lower 37 acres.

Not surprisingly there are two factions: the ones who think this is a bad idea, and the ones who think it is a good idea (namely the Applicant).

The folks who think this is a good idea have offered the following “facts” in support of that view (please note that the quotes below are just for emphasis). Those of us who think this is a bad idea are going to offer what we know as the actualities in response to those facts.

CLAIM: “If we don’t build a school there, 300 townhouses, some designated for low-income housing, will be built instead.”

TRUTH: In a word, no. Phone calls to the Planning Board to inquire as to the legitimacy of this statement were met with incredulity. One member told us that it was as likely the tract would be made “into a second Disneyland.”

CLAIM: “The plan was for a rock quarry first, before we came in and rescued the land with plans for a school.”

TRUTH: Of course, we diligently researched the issue and no, you cannot mine in a residential neighborhood.

CLAIM: “Our school is offering an education in the Catholic tradition.”

TRUTH: Possibly. But at this time, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., of the Trenton Archdiocese, refuses to support Trinity Hall. He writes, “The school’s founders are using the expression, ‘in the Catholic tradition’ to describe Trinity Hall. That is not the same thing as being a ‘Catholic School’ and I simply want to make clear that this new institution is not affiliated with the Diocese of Trenton or our Office of Catholic Education.”

Yes, you heard right. This is not a Catholic school. It is also not an accredited school. It also has NO TRACK RECORD. What does this mean for the girls who attend the school? Their chances of graduating and being accepted to an upper echelon school is, at this time, an unknown commodity.

CLAIM: “Trinity Hall will preserve most of the open space and will also not develop approximately 30 acres leaving it undisturbed.”

TRUTH: Trinity supporters are claiming that the Applicant will preserve the large tract of land fronting Kings Highway. They circulated this claim wide and far. However, when residents asked them directly, at the first planning hearing, what they planned to do with this tract of land, THEY REFUSED TO ANSWER!

CLAIM: “75% of our student base will be bused in.”

TRUTH: This claim is extremely hard to believe. Half of Trinity’s projected 500 students will be of driving age. These are affluent students, whose parents will be paying more than $16,000 in tuition. You better believe they will have cars. Moreover, every student who is bused in must receive a stipend from the Township to the tune of $884.00 tax dollars a student. And that is this year’s going rate. By the time the school is built and these girls come a rollin’ in, you can bet that will go up. Do the math. 75% of 500 times $884 bucks….yeah, blows my mind too.

CLAIM:“We plan to build an access road from Stavola Road to the back edge of the school. This road will be a limited-use road, and will only be used by emergency vehicles. “

TRUTH: This access road will be squeezed in between two existing homes on Stavola Road. The construction of it alone with turn this once-quiet neighborhood into a construction vehicle circus. And will it truly be used for only “emergency vehicles” ? Or could it eventually become a cut-through for parents and students? Or, worst-case, for all the delivery trucks that might easily exceed the 4-ton limit on Chapel Hill Road and need an alternative route to access the school? Do we really want to find out?

CLAIM: “At the spot where we want to put the entrance to our school, Chapel Hill Road is only 19 feet wide.”

TRUTH: Yes, that is true. And why? Because no one ever intended a school to be built there. The road is narrow, winding…with hairpin turns and blind spots. It was the scene of 15 accidents in just 2012 alone.

So we must ask ourselves? Why is Trinity (the good neighbor that it claims to be) participating in such scare tactics and fear-mongering by spreading ridiculously false information? Answer: Because they are avoiding the truth. The truth is that the residents in the immediate Chapel Hill area, you know, the ones with all the “STOP TRINITY HALL DEVELOPMENT” signs on their lawns, the ones who attended the community meeting, do not want this school.

They vote, they pay taxes and they deserve to be safe in the neighborhood that we all love!