New firm to work on affordable housing plan over next few months.
By: Josh Appelbaum
The Township Committee appointed the planning firm Clarke Caton and Hintz and a professional planner to help deal with new affordable housing regulations, Monday.
The firm assigned Mary Beth Lonergan to Cranbury. Mayor Becky Beauregard said Ms. Lonergan will work on a plan of action over the next few months.
The consulting contract is limited to one year, but Ms. Beauregard said given the scope of the work, the township would extend the contract if the need should arise.
Ms. Lonergan declined to comment because the contract for her services has not been finalized. The township has agreed to pay as much as $27,600 for the firm’s services in 2005, according to Township Administrator Frederick Carr.
COAH amended its regulations earlier this year to allow municipalities to raise affordable housing fees for developers.
The new plan requires towns like Cranbury to build one affordable housing unit for every eight residential units built. For every 25 jobs created in the township, one affordable housing unit also must be built.
COAH tightened regulations from its draft regulations, released in August, which called for one unit per 10 residential units and one unit for every 30 jobs created.
Mark Berkowsky, president of the Cranbury Housing Associates, said the new COAH regulations, released Dec. 20, could mean a 10 to 20 percent increase in the number of affordable housing units Cranbury is required to build between 2004 and 2014.
CHA is a nonprofit organization established in 1963 for the purpose of implementing and managing the township’s affordable housing programs.
Cranbury also is considering raising affordable housing fees assessed to developers in an effort to meet the new provisions from ½ percent to 1 percent of the assessed cost of new development for developers of residential housing, and from 1 to 2 percent for nonresidential development.
Art groups get financial help
Elaine WordenStaff Writer
The Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission has announced that Jamesburg and the Monroe Township Patrons of the Arts and Cultural Arts Commission as recipients of its 2005 Local Arts Grants.
The commission has awarded grants totaling $163,800 to 45 county arts groups, as well as $29,450 for 11 local arts development groups.
The Monroe Patrons of the Arts received a grant of $2,100. The money will be used to fund a presentation of Mai-Ni-Chen Dance Company, a Chinese dance troupe from Fort Lee.
The performance, titled "A Dragon’s Tale," will be held April 3. It’s a combination of live, traditional Chinese music and dance.
With a mixture of colorful props and costumes, "A Dragon’s Tale" is an exhibition of the different ways various Chinese provinces celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, featuring the traditional folk dances unique to each region.
The Cultural Arts Commission was awarded $6,500, which will fund a matinee performance on May 15 featuring the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, with Mark Laycock conducting.
The 74-piece orchestra will be performing "Pas Des Troif: Great Ballet Music," is a collection of three pieces composed specifically for ballets. The works will include Aaron Copland’s "Appalachian Spring," Igor Stravinsky’s "Rites of Spring," and Ravel’s "Daphis and Chloe, Suite 2."
"It’s a huge orchestra, and we’ve never had such a huge orchestra on our stage," said Nancie Gunkelman, a member of the commission.
Both performances will be held at the Richard P. Marasco Center for the Performing Arts. For ticket information, call the Cultural Arts Commission at (732) 521-4400, ext. 134.
The Jamesburg received $2,000 for local arts development, which will enable the community to provide bands for its Fourth of July celebration and a street fair to be held in August, said Denise Jawidzik, borough business administrator.
Fire station work begins
Leon ToveyStaff Writer
MONROE A handful of township officials braved the wind and rain Wednesday morning to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the $2.8 million fire station in Fire District 3, which should be completed by late September.
The nasty weather kept all but the most hardy away from the event on Centre Drive, but the rain seemed to make the ground much easier for the ceremonial golden shovel to work with.
"You see how flat all that is?" District 3 Board of Commissioners Chairman Peter Lumia asked, gesturing from beneath his umbrella to the recently scraped site.
"I did all that this morning already," he joked.
Mr. Lumia said ground preparations at the site had already begun and that construction crews employed by Diversified Contracting Inc. of Belmar were waiting for a break in the weather to pour the footings for the foundation of the 15,000-square-foot station.
"Once the footings are in, it’ll go fast," said Mr. Lumia, who was one of four District 3 commissioners to attend the ceremony.
The new fire station is intended to help firefighters in District 3 cut response times to its western section an area that includes Rossmoor and Greenbriar at Whittingham.
The response time from the district’s current base of operations, the Central Monroe Volunteer Fire Department fire station on School House Road near its intersection with Buckelew Avenue, is around 12 minutes, according to District 3 Chief Jim Beebe.
Voters in Fire District 3 approved a $1.9 million referendum on the project in February 2003. The firehouse referendum will be paid over a period of 20 years and will increase the tax rate by 1.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That means the owner of a house assessed at the township average of $148,500, will pay $22.28 a year.
The remaining cost for the project will be covered by the township, which has allotted $1.125 million for the Emergency Medical Services section of the building, according to Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton.
Mr. Hamilton said that according to the terms of the contract, Diversified Contracting is required to complete construction on the new building by September.
He said the work completed thus far seems to be in line with that deadline.
"We’re off and running," he said.
Mr. Lumia said the new station will provide office space for District 3 headquarters, dormitories for fire and emergency personnel and storage space for equipment. It will also have three bays for fire vehicles and equipment and a fourth to accommodate two emergency vehicles.

