The revision affects building height standards for a General Development Plan (GDP) in the Office Park (OP) zoning district
By Ruth Luse
The Hopewell Township Committee adopted an ordinance amendment Monday that would allow Capital Health Systems (CHS) to build a hospital up to 110 feet high 10 feet higher than previously allowed if CHS gets the other OKs it needs to build the facility.
CHS already has gotten an OK from the state to move most of its Mercer facility, on Bellevue Avenue in Trenton, to Hopewell Township.
CHS, according to Joan Kiernan-O’Toole, Planning Board secretary, has not filed a plan yet. When it does, she said, approvals would be needed from the township Planning Board.
The measure, which amends the Land Use and Development ordinance, was reviewed by members of the Hopewell Township Planning Board prior to Monday’s Township Committee action.
The revision which prompted only a few negative comments from people in the audience about the hospital’s plan to build in Hopewell Township during the public hearing affects building height standards for a General Development Plan (GDP) in the Office Park (OP) zoning district.
The original height limitation for the OP zone was 70 feet, but allowed sloping roofs that enclosed or screened uninhabitable space or equipment to rise an additional 30 feet above that limit, meaning a building could be as much as 100 feet high.
The adopted measure sets an absolute height limit of 110 feet, including all uninhabitable space and rooftop mechanicals. The new provision will not allow any opportunity to construct sloping roofs an additional 30 feet to screen uninhabitable space.
The height increase applies only to the OP zone and only to properties that have received GDP approvals. The height increase also applies only to an 18-acre area that is "at least 500 feet from both the CSX railroad right-of-way and I-95 approximately 2,000 feet from Scotch Road," according to a Planning Board resolution adopted in June. CHS hopes to build on this tract, which currently is owned by Merrill Lynch.
CHS officials have said that, even with the extra 10 feet the revised ordinance allows, the hospital would be hidden from view, or almost completely hidden from every point in the township except I-95.

