Ridge Baseball Club is a volunteer-run non-profit youth baseball organization in Bernards Township that provides recreational and travel baseball programs, as well as a buddy ball program for special needs children, at the RBC Complex to more than 400 local children annually.
Kevin Larner and Dennis Wilson are the president and secretary of Ridge Baseball Club which serves the youth of Bernards Township.
The lawsuit
On January 26th, owners of eight residential properties in Bernards Township, NJ filed a lawsuit against Ridge Baseball Club (RBC) and Bernards Township seeking to invalidate the Township’s December 12, 2023 Ordinance extending for 20 years and amending RBC’s 2004 lease of the Ridge Baseball Complex located on Valley Road in Basking Ridge which was set to expire this May.
The majority of the residents who filed the lawsuit own property on Fenwick Place – a development that has been built in the part few years.
The legal action seeks to annul the decades-old arrangement between RBC and the township that has saved Bernards Township taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and through which RBC is permitted to manage and maintain the Complex at no cost to taxpayers.
Ridge Baseball Club notes that through this arrangement, they provide a public service to the community by, among other things, operating the only recreational youth baseball program available to the boys and girls of Bernards Township.
The residents who have collectively filed the lawsuit have expressed concerns about noise coming from the on-site batting cages, lights used for night games at the field, and parking issues that arise when there are multiple games and/or tournaments being held at the four-field facility.
Kevin and Dennis joined Jim Monaghan to discuss the history of youth baseball in Bernards Township, as well as what this lawsuit could mean to the future of youth baseball in the area.
The story was recently covered by Channel 7 Eyewitness News.
More information
You can get more details about Ridge Baseball Club and the current situation at their website – ridgebaseballclub.com