Patrolman James Roman resigns
By: John Tredrea
The Hopewell Township Committee voted unanimously Oct. 18 to accept the resignation, effective Nov. 1, of Patrolman James Roman from the township police department.
Mr. Roman has been with the township police 18 years.
Prior to working for Hopewell Township, Mr. Roman was a member of the former Hopewell Borough Police Department and worked under the now late former chief, Robert M. Dodson.
The committee thanked Mr. Roman for his long term of service and wished him well in his future endeavors.
IN OTHER BUSINESS during the Oct. 18 committee meeting, Committeewoman Fran Bartlett, in charge of public works, summarized the ways in which residents will be notified when leaves will be picked up from their properties this fall.
In addition to advance notices on cable television and in the local press, signs notifying residents of impending leaf pickup will be posted one week before public works crews come through to get the leaves.
DURING THE PUBLIC HEARING portion of the meeting, Timkak Lane resident Fred Babinowich decried a recent decision of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education pertaining to a proposed complex of 10 athletic fields on 48 acres on the western end of the grounds of Timberlane Middle School.
The school board voted unanimously Oct. 15 that its fourth extension of the township Planning Board’s deadline to make a decision on Back Timberlane will be the last such extension.
The Planning Board’s final deadline is Nov. 13, five days after a scheduled special meeting of that board on Back Timberlane, set for 7:30 p.m. in the municipal building.
"I don’t understand why there has to be a deadline," Mr. Babinowich said. "I thought there were good-faith negotiations going on … they can’t work on this project during the winter months anyway … this is like a stab in the back."
Mr. Babinowich has been a leading opponent of the Back Timberlane project and is a member of the grass-roots group, SAFE-T (Stop Athletic Fields Expansion at Timberlane).
Mayor Marylou Ferrara replied that negotiations on Back Timberlane are continuing as the Nov. 8 meeting and final deadline of Nov. 13 approach.
In the wake of vehement protest from many neighbors during four Planning Board meetings, the Back Timberlane project was sent back to the drawing board several months ago.
School board president, Sally Turner, said last week that negotiations since then have produced a significantly scaled-down Back Timberlane plan, with several fields reduced in size and the width of the buffer between the complex and neighboring homes increased.

