Oak Ridge group sues Hopewell Township officials, developer

The suit charges that Merrick Wilson failed to finish work on Cheyenne Drive in Oak Ridge III and the township didn’t meet its responsibility to require him to do it.

By John Tredrea
   Eleven residents in the high-priced Oak Ridge III development in southeastern Hopewell Township have sued the township and Merrick Wilson, builder of Oak Ridge III.
   The suit, filed in Superior Court last week, charges that Mr. Wilson failed to finish work on Cheyenne Drive in Oak Ridge III and the township didn’t meet its responsibility to require him to do it.
   Oak Ridge III is located near the Pennington Estates development, often referred to as Indian Village, off Pennington-Lawrenceville Road.
   The suit alleges that drainage work, roadways, traffic signs and landscaping, all of which Mr. Wilson stated he would provide in his developer’s agreement with the township, have not been done.
   "If the township fails to enforce the agreements they enter into, they should finish the job themselves," said Cheyenne Drive resident David Rowntree, one of the residents to file the lawsuit.
   The township also has sued Mr. Wilson, who could not be reached for comment.
   "Mr. Wilson has five or six different corporations," Hopewell Township Deputy Mayor Mark Iorio said Monday. "We filed suit against all of them about a month ago."
   Mr. Iorio added that the bond company involved in Mr. Wilson’s performance bond has gone bankrupt. He said the name of the bonding company is Frontier Insurance Co., Rock Hill, N.Y.
   Mr. Wilson and Hopewell Township signed a developer’s agreement on Oak Ridge III 14 years ago, the lawsuit says, adding that the township required Mr. Wilson to post a performance bond in 1996. Although the last house on Cheyenne Drive has been occupied since mid-2003, the work Mr. Wilson is required to do under the developer’s agreement is still not done.
   "I’ve been living here for 11 years and I still don’t have a proper road," Cheyenne Drive resident Sandra Mapp said.
   "The township is pursuing every legal avenue, from filing a complaint in Superior Court against Mr. Wilson and his four companies, to filing complaints with the county tax board and state construction board, in an effort to force the developer to complete the approved site improvements. Hopewell Township is in good company — the DCA (state Department of Community Affairs), county construction board of appeals, and the county tax board have also filed separate complaints against Mr. Wilson," Mayor Arlene Kemp said Tuesday.
   "We believe Mr. Wilson has utterly failed to meet his obligations to complete the development. We regret that we have had to resort to the courts to compel him to meet his obligations. We want to work cooperatively with the homeowners. We hope that the pressure the neighbors and the township together exert on Mr. Wilson will rectify this situation in the near future," Township Committeewoman Vanessa Sandom said Monday.
   Committeeman David Sandahl said Monday that the township’s lawsuit against Mr. Wilson is "one of a series of legal and administrative measures the township has initiated to pursue Mr. Wilson. He clearly has not fulfilled his obligations to the township and to many of the people living in the houses he has built. We will continue to pursue every reasonable means until Mr. Wilson meets his obligations."