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Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

The Bass River Township Elementary School, which is on the auction block.

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(Continued from Page 1) the auction.

One resident, however, inquired whether a potential bidder not being given such documentation could serve as potential legal grounds for delaying the auction. Another expressed it was probably worth the “risk” to proceed with a purchase of the school, even without the municipality having all the remediation information, believing the potential benefits could outweigh the risks. But the township solicitor cautioned against a purchase without having an inspection done first.

Nick Brown, business administrator for the district, as well as an employee of the Little Egg Harbor Township School District, who also provides his services to the Pinelands Regional School District, and who has announced his intent to stop working for the Bass River district upon conclusion of the sale, later disputed the Feb. 7 claims of the commissioners, but would not provide much detail in doing so, believing “the newspaper” was not the appropriate venue for that. But he vowed to contact Buzby-Cope in the wake of this newspaper’s inquiries for this story.

One man pointed out during the Feb. 7 meeting of the Bass River Township Board of Commissioners that the school has an emergency generator and “could be a shelter when we have a hurricane.” He added that he thought the municipality could rent out some of the former school’s classrooms as office space, and thus generate revenue.

“It is quite an asset for the town to have,” the resident contended.

Another man attending the meeting noted that he had done research on the properties that are in the vicinity of the former school over the past couple of years, all while exploring possible acquisition of one that used to be the site of the New Gretna House restaurant, which fronts Route 9, a busy state highway that runs through the municipality’s commercial district of New Gretna.

That research, he maintained, found that the New Gretna House property is currently “unusable” due to its lot size, deed restrictions and current Pinelands Commission rules and regulations, including setback standards. However, the man noted that if the lot and former school properties are joined together somehow, it could “present” the opportunity for “having retail space” or “rebuilding the New Gretna House,” including providing for hotel rooms or banquet facilities. He added that he was aware that an Irish pub with three locations in the state had also expressed an interest in opening in New Gretna, and perhaps such a deal could clear the way for “marketing” the properties to such entities.

However, even if adjoining the properties in the municipality’s downtown district doesn’t come to fruition, the man contended that the former school itself, if in the township’s possession, could be used for purposes such as a new town hall (significantly expanding the capacity of municipal operations from the current one), a storm shelter, or to host profitable events, such as “movie nights.” In addition, he said, some of the classrooms could be converted into antique shops, with some of the larger rooms used for purposes such as setting up train displays.

“I know of someone in Mystic Island who has Frank Sinatra’s Lionel trainset,” the man pointed out. “It is huge, and he has to have a place to set it up, so people can come see it. Here is an opportunity, possibly.

“… There is scope, but I am not sure where the town fathers of New Gretna would like to go with this. But I am trying to throw some things out there and point out that there are actually a couple of legitimate ideas.”

Capriglione, however, discussed purported mold and asbestos in the former school, in addition to concern over a three-decade old oil tank on the property and possible soil contamination (the school has since reportedly converted to gas for heating purposes).

“If I was purchasing a house, I wouldn’t rush out to buy a house with mold, and I would want to make sure it was taken care of,” he said. “There are questions that we haven’t received answers to.”

Capriglione maintained, for example, that the township was told that tests were done for air quality inside the former school, “however, we asked for documentation and haven’t received it yet.”

“I have no problem getting it (purchasing the school), but you have to understand what you are getting into,” Capriglione maintained.

However, one of the men, in urging the commissioners to “look into the possibility of the town floating a bond” to purchase the former school, or “maybe getting investors” involved to form a “public-private partnership,” maintained “time is of the essence.” Bass River, as previously reported by this newspaper, has been suffering from limited ratables and a lack of new commercial development due to Pinelands Commission building restrictions that are considered strict and cost prohibitive.

Some of the residents during the Feb. 7 commissioners meeting even expressed their willingness to join such a partnership, with the man inquiring about the town floating a bond pointing out that if “just 40 people put in $10,000 each,” the money would be there to purchase the former school.

“And I know there are certain risks,” the man acknowledged. “But if you don’t want to take on risk, you are going to have a town that just keeps going downhill. Or you can take a chance of moving the town forward – at least if you do go forward, you are trying to make something happen that has potential.”

As Capriglione discussed the need for the township to know what it is getting into in purchasing the building, as well as the purported contamination issues, the man asked, “Are we going to allow the (Bass River Township) Board of Education to leave an essentially contaminated building in our neighborhood?”

Deputy Mayor Louis Bourguignon, also director of Public Works and property for Bass River Township, replied “it (the possible contamination) has nothing to do with us” and “we have no say.”

“I am all in favor of the ideas and everything,” he added. “But everybody has got ideas, but no way to fund it! If something falls through, then we have no way of funding it– look at (former Republican governor) Christine Todd Whitman when she thought the stock market and everything was going to be all kosher (the former governor borrowed $2.75 billion to deposit in the state’s pension funds as the stock market at that time was doing well, and the infusion reportedly helped create a surplus in the accounts, but then the stock market took a downturn). It is the same thing here, when it falls through, who is going to get hammered? Us!”

One of the men advocating for the township to purchase the former school pressed the commissioners if the township solicitor, JoAnne O’Connor, “can find out what the options are.”

“As long as she is on the payroll, she will do whatever we ask!” quipped Bourguignon, suggesting that any research by the solicitor would incur a cost to the municipality.

O’Connor, attending the Feb. 7 meeting the Bass River Township Board of Commissioners, said the “only thing” she will advise the board is “if you buy it, you own it.”

“So, if you buy it and there is asbestos, and there is mold, and there is an underground storage tank that has been there for three decades and it has leaked out all the oil, then it is incumbent upon the new owner to take care of all that,” she said. “It has to be remediated.”

Should the state become involved in the purported contamination issues, she added, “it becomes a brown site (brownfield).”

“I advise all my clients to make sure you have an inspection done before you buy anything,” O’Connor noted.

And “that is what we have been after,” Capriglione emphasized, contending “we have not been getting” any reports even though “we have been asking for them for well over a year now.”

The discussion of potential asbestos in the former elementary school led one person to point out that it was only a few years ago that students had occupied the building, and to ask if they were exposed to it.

The Bass River Township School District became a send/receive, non-operating school district beginning with the 2020-21 school year, and closed its only facility, the elementary school, with Bass River children in grades K-6 now attending the Little Egg Harbor Township School District’s two elementary schools.

“If asbestos is in there, it is not always hazardous, unless it is friable,” O’Connor replied. “If the particles start coming down, then you have an issue. But if the building is well maintained, then it is not compromised. But if you come in and then try to do something to the building because you have to reconfigure it to what you need, then you have to take out all of the asbestos because you are ripping out walls, ripping down this stuff, and picking up the tile. And all that dust is what is the problem.

“There may have been asbestos in there for decades, but if it is not falling down, it is OK. If I am going to knock through that wall and there is asbestos, I am going to have to remove it.”

Kevin Foder, vice president of the Bass River Board of Education, who began his tenure as the send/receive relationship began and was present for the Feb. 7 commissioners meeting, contended that the pending sale of the elementary school is “something that See SCHOOL/ Page 11