Hopewell OKs land purchase funding

Council to help pay for preservation of St. Michael’s tract

By Aleen Crispino
   Hopewell Borough Council voted 6-0 to adopt an ordinance appropriating $800,000 as the first installment of its contribution to the purchase — with the Delaware & Raritan (D&R) Greenway Land Trust and Hopewell Township — of most of the 337-acre St. Michael’s tract for open space preservation and related uses.
   Hopewell Township Administrator Bruce Hilling said Wednesday that township officials have not appropriated any money yet for this project.
   The St. Michael’s tract, at the foot of the Sourland Mountains, consists of forests, open fields and the stream corridor of Bedens Brook. It is located in Hopewell Township, east of Carter Road (Route 569) and just south of Hopewell Borough.
   Preserving this land forms "part of a larger regional effort to create a greenbelt around the Borough of Hopewell, preserving the village character of the borough, protecting natural resources and wildlife habitats, and providing recreational opportunities to the public," according to the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) in its Green Acres Program Project Descriptions, published in July 2006.
   A NJDEP Green Acres matching grant, in the amount of $400,000, was awarded to Hopewell Borough in 2005. After making the $20,000 down payment required by law, which will come from Mercer County’s Open Space Trust Fund, the borough will finance the remainder of the $800,000 by issuing a $380,000 municipal bond.
   Money to pay off the bond will come from the borough’s open space preservation tax, said Borough Administrator/Clerk Michele Hovan on Wednesday. The open space tax rate is 1 cent per $100 in assessed property value.
   The next step will be for the borough to appropriate an additional $600,000, financed by a $15,000 down payment and a $285,000 municipal bond, as well as by a $300,000 Green Acres matching grant approved by NJDEP for 2006, said Ms. Hovan.
   The borough’s final goal is "at the end of this scenario, to have $1.8 million to contribute to D&R Greenway," said Councilman David Knights. "We hope the township will match that," he added.
   After two years of negotiations, D&R Greenway announced recently that the Diocese of Trenton had agreed to sell the land to the organization for $11 million.
   D&R Greenway expects to receive $8 million in state, county and municipal funding, including the borough’s contribution. The organization began a fundraising campaign Saturday at the Hopewell Harvest Fair to raise the remaining $3 million in private donations.
   "We are putting all of our eggs in the St. Michael’s basket," said Councilman Knights. "If we decide some day the Kooltronic site should be open space, we’ll be tapped out," he added.
   Mr. Knight’s comments refer to the former site of Kooltronic Inc. at 57 Hamilton Ave. in Hopewell Borough. Rockwell Automation, which operated a manufacturing facility at the site from the early 1900s to 1975, before selling to Kooltronic, was found by NJDEP to be the responsible party charged with cleaning up groundwater and mitigating indoor vapor intrusion by trichloroethene in surrounding homes on Lafayette and Somerset streets.
   "We’re spending future open space tax money," explained Councilman Knights to his colleagues on the council. "We believe St. Michael’s is that important," he said.
   Council invited public comment, and environmentalist Bill Wolfe, of Ringoes in East Amwell Township, spoke about the Rockwell cleanup effort.
   Mr. Wolfe said any possible future effort to purchase land for open space in the borough "needs to be supplemented by private money that’s available" from NJDEP’s Natural Resource Damage Program (NRD), money that could be collected in a settlement with Rockwell by the NJDEP Office of Natural Resource Restoration.
   "It’s something that all municipalities need to be aware of," said Mr. Wolfe.
   "I don’t know where Rockwell is in the NRD process," said Councilman David Mackie. "In many cases, you have companies that are looking for ways to satisfy their NRD requirements. I think this is something we should think about," he said, adding that this would be discussed with Rockwell Automation representatives at a future date.
   "I think it’s very important to separate the two issues," said Councilman Mark Samse, referring to the St. Michael’s tract and the Rockwell cleanup site. "I think the Rockwell thing is too premature in terms of what we know and what the priorities are. We’ll keep it in mind as another option."
   IN OTHER BUSINESS, council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance authorizing the mayor and borough clerk to execute a purchase and sale agreement with Hopewell Lodge, LLC in the amount of $1.2 million to purchase the former Masonic Lodge at 88 E. Broad St. for use as the new municipal office building and court facility.
   Council also passed a resolution to hire HACBM Architects, Engineers and Planners of Princeton to perform needed renovations to the former Masonic Lodge, for a fee not to exceed $36,000.
   Additionally, council passed a resolution authorizing the borough to apply to Mercer County for a grant under the Mercer at Play program. The grant would fund the borough’s contribution to a joint project, along with Hopewell and Lawrence townships and Pennington Borough, to purchase the Twin Pines property on Lawrenceville-Pennington Road for use as athletic fields.
   The grant also would fund upgrading the basketball court at the Hopewell Railroad Station Mini Park.