Message from Deputy Mayor Matt Adams | October 31, 2025
Township leaders are pleased to spread the word that we have acquired five acres of land on Martine Avenue, at the former home of the Highland Swim Club.
While we were sad to see the swim club close its doors last month, after creating summer memories for generations of Scotch Plains residents over the past 70 years, this sale served as a tremendous opportunity to preserve the land and open space that it represents as a prime community benefit.
With its close proximity to the newly renovated Kramer Manor Park, the acquisition presents a fantastic opportunity to build upon what we have already done to dramatically enhance this key piece of our parks and recreation portfolio.
As you can imagine, there was plenty of interest among real estate developers and other private enterprise eager to turn the land into a profitable commercial venture. However, Scotch Plains was fortunate that the swim club’s board ultimately decided to sell the land to the town following a competitive bidding and appraisal process, thus ensuring it will remain a place where local families will make memories, enjoy the benefits of an active lifestyle, and share stories for generations to come.
As a byproduct of the sale, the property will be deed restricted to recreational purposes, and conversations are also underway with the state’s Green Acres program to seek the type of state law open space protections for the site that may also open up grant opportunities for the renovations necessary before the property will be re-opened to the public.
I applaud my colleagues on the Township Council, as well as Mayor Josh Losardo and the municipal administration, for jumping on this opportunity before it was too late. I also thank Senate President Nick Scutari (D-22nd Dist.) for helping to secure a $1.8 million state grant that funded a significant portion of the purchase price. That money directly offset the burden on our local budget to fund the acquisition.
In Scotch Plains, we are blessed to have a tremendous working relationship with the Senate President and our entire state legislative delegation. Along with Assembly Members Linda Carter and Jim Kennedy (both D-22nd Dist.), Senator Scutari has a pulse on the needs of our community and continues to deliver for us in Trenton every day.
Since my first days on the Township Council, and in my ongoing role as the Council’s liaison to the Recreation Commission, I have been beating the drum about the need for more recreational opportunities in Scotch Plains to satisfy the growing demand. There are more children involved in youth sports and wide array of other extracurriculars around our community than at any other time in our history. We should not run from that; we should embrace it head-on with the type of parks and recreation projects that we have undertaken in recent years.
In only a handful of years, there have been substantial improvements made to these community spaces, such as new turf at the Southside soccer field, new playground equipment in the multiple parks, new basketball, tennis, pickle ball, and roller hockey courts strategically placed all throughout our nine-square-mile town, and new state-of-the art fields under construction at the county’s vocational-technical school in town on Raritan Road through a partnership with Union County.
We must continue to meet the needs of the community with creative solutions to our shortage of recreational space. We are finally making enormous strides in modernizing our parks, and we must continue the momentum in the direction of progress.
This includes, but is not limited to, capitalizing on other available opportunities to acquire new open space, and working with partners like the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education to improve the open space that, while not under the jurisdiction of the Township’s Parks and Recreation Department, still substantially benefits the community as a whole.
The areas behind Terrill and Nettingham Middle Schools are the most logical places to focus such efforts with our partners at the Board of Education, and my colleagues and I constantly share our thoughts about the need for improvements to these spaces with the leadership of the school district. I was heartened that the acute need for improvements to the open space behind Terril and Nettingham Middle Schools was a topic of conversation at the recent Board of Education Candidates Forum and that the district has committed to making some incremental improvements to the fields behind Nettingham. Yet, more action is needed.
Following the Highland property acquisition, we have five more acres of open space that is specifically reserved for recreation! In a town such as Scotch Plains, which is considered “built out,” the sale of the Highland Swim Club to the municipality is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And I am so glad that we moved quickly and deliberately.
As part of the sales contract, the land is deed restricted and can only be used for recreational purposes. The next step in the process is to determine the best uses for the property.
We are fortunate to have a very proactive Recreation Commission, comprising volunteers from all segments of our community who are focused on creating new opportunities for people of all ages. The commission will lead the effort to determine how the property will be best used, and its meetings are open to the public with two opportunities per meeting for public comment. The Recreation Commission will ultimately report its recommendations for the site to the Township Council, and my colleagues and I will ultimately be tasked with the adopting and funding the vision for the next generation of this property.
As we begin the public engagement process, all agree that township residents must have a strong and lasting voice on the future of the former Highland property. The Recreation Commission is planning to hold public meetings to gather feedback about best uses for the land. Through this transparent process, we will be updating the community about meetings and potential decisions via this weekly newsletter, as well as social media and the municipal website.
It is my hope that you generously share your opinions on the ways that the site should be used next; we want to ensure the final plan reflects the desire of the community. We also want to make sure that whatever is ultimately decided will prompt steady usage of the property and will create a lasting amenity of which all will be proud. Every time I see the dozens of residents enjoying one of our newly-renovated parks, it brings me great joy to know that we have made such a positive impact on parks and recreation in our tenure.
Please keep a lookout on Scotch Plains’ communication channels and the local media as the Recreation Commission plans next steps for what will certainly be an exciting next chapter for the site of the former swim club.
If anyone has any comments at this point, you are always welcome to email me in my capacity as council liaison to the Recreation Commission. To keep the conversation going, I can be reached at
