Monroe Township Expanding Owens Memorial Park

Monroe Township and Gloucester County are in the process of buying a 35-acre tract off Clayton Road that will be used to expand the Earling E. Owens Memorial Park with additional fields and more parking.

An indoor recreation facility also is being considered.

The cost of the property, which fronts Clayton Road and backs up to the park on Tuckahoe Road in Monroe, is $1.225 million. The parcel, now vacant farmland and trees, is owned by Joseph and Rosemary Geneva.

The township will pay 25 percent of the cost from its open space fund. The county will pay the rest through its open space account, then seek 50 percent in reimbursement from the state's Green Acres Program.