Pop Warner teams to play on Tinton Falls fields

BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

EATONTOWN — Borough officials have taken steps toward ensuring that the Monmouth Falcons Pop Warner football teams have playing fields of their own in neighboring Tinton Falls.

After more than a year of negotiating the deal, the Eatontown Borough Council introduced an ordinance during its Jan. 25 meeting authorizing payment of $250,000 to Tinton Falls via a 10-year interlocal agreement allowing the Falcons to use facilities at the West Park Avenue Recreation Center.

A second and final reading of the pending ordinance and a public hearing are scheduled for Feb. 22.

If the council approves the measure, half of the contribution, or $125,000, would be paid within 60 days of the execution of this agreement. The balance would be due by the end of calendar year 2006.

The total contribution, which breaks down to $25,000 per year, can be used by Tinton Falls for “either the creation, improvement, maintenance, or development” of the West Park Avenue Recreation Area.

Though the agreement would expire in 10 years, the contract could be renegotiated for an extension of additional years, according to Borough Attorney Gene Anthony, who drew up the ordinance at the council’s request.

A copy of the pending ordinance indicates that several private organizations, such as the Monmouth Falcons, and even some of the activities sponsored by the Eatontown Recreation Department, include residents from both this borough and Tinton Falls.

With that in mind, Tinton Falls has chosen to allow those private organizations and the borough’s recreation department to use the West Park Avenue playing fields, which are still under construction.

Tinton Falls Mayor Peter Maclearie has previously said that the football fields should be ready for use by this coming spring.

The borough of Tinton Falls will insure the West Park Avenue Recreation Area for property and liability, the ordinance states. The host community will also be held responsible for any liability or damages that occur at the 37-acre park.

However, the agreement will also hold Eatontown liable for any of the activities that it sponsors through the borough government or the recreation department, according to the ordinance.

Even with Eatontown’s contribution, Tinton Falls will pick up nearly $1.2 million to construct the new park, which calls for two football fields, two basketball courts, a dog park, a softball field, walking and fitness trails and a pond with a picnic area.

The Falcons, whose football and cheerleading squads include residents from both municipalities, now use fields at Meadowbrook School to practice, courtesy of an arrangement with the Eatontown Board of Education.

The league’s games are held at Monmouth Regional High School, also in Tinton Falls.

The Falcons have moved from place to place over the years, frequently getting evicted from various facilities for assorted reasons.

Eatontown Councilwoman Joyce Englehart, a onetime coach for the Falcons’ cheerleaders, first suggested in 2004 that the borough give Tinton Falls a contribution toward its new park as a means of accessing its own football fields and grandstands.