Proposed ordinance prohibiting parking along sections of Pennington-Titusville, Pennington-Harbourton and Scotch roads near Back Timberlane was sent back to drawing board during the Dec. 12 Hopewell Township Committee meeting
By John Tredrea
Talks between Hopewell Township and school district officials on how to best regulate parking on three roads near the Back Timberlane athletic fields are slated to begin during the second week of January.
A proposed township ordinance prohibiting parking along sections of Pennington-Titusville, Pennington-Harbourton and Scotch roads near Back Timberlane was sent back to the drawing board during the Dec. 12 Hopewell Township Committee meeting.
The ordinance was defeated 4-0 in order to give officials and residents of the three roads a chance to draft an ordinance that would satisfy all parties involved.
Residents of the three roads supported the failed ordinance, saying parking on their streets by people attending athletic events at the Athletic Fields at Timberlane (known as Back Timberlane) creates unsafe traffic conditions.
For their part, school officials said prohibition of parking on the roads would impede holding athletic events on those fields. Those officials also implored the committee to delay an adoption vote on a parking ordinance until school officials had been able to participate in the negotiations that could produce such an ordinance.
During Tuesday night’s Township Committee meeting, the last of 2005, Anthony Arnone of Pennington-Titusville Road and a strong supporter of the ordinance that was defeated Dec. 12, asked when the meetings on hammering out a new ordinance would begin.
Township Administrator Bruce Hilling said he will meet with Hopewell Valley Regional School District Superintendent Judith Ferguson on the issue during the second week of January.
"It will be an initial meeting, to get the ball rolling," Mr. Hilling said. "There will be no lawyers there. The meeting will not be open to the public."
During the Dec. 12 meeting, neighbors of the Timberlane fields said the ordinance is very much needed and way overdue.
In its approval of the Back Timberlane project nearly four years ago, the township Planning Board recommended regulation of parking on the streets covered by the ordinance. Those streets bound three sides of Back Timberlane. The fourth side is bounded by the eastern portion of the grounds of Timberlane Middle School.
Referendums to build nine fields at Back Timberlane were soundly defeated twice by Valley voters. Two fields and a stormwater basin have been built with private donations since those defeats. Much of the money has come from the Recreation Foundation of Hopewell Valley.