Restorative work has been going on for about a week
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
A lawsuit between Hopewell Township and embattled developer Merrick Wilson has been settled out of court, township officials said Monday.
As a result, debris and weeds, some of them nearly 6 feet tall, are at long last being cleared from the Presidential Hill neighborhood and streets there will be fixed. The streets have been in bad shape for years. The tick-infested weeds are on lots that have been languishing vacant for years. Debris includes piles of abandoned construction material. All this is in a neighborhood with homes with assessed values in the million-dollar range.
The restorative work at Presidential Hill, which Mr. Wilson built, has been going on for about a week, township attorney Steve Goodell said during Monday’s Township Committee meeting.
”It’s unbelievable the difference this week has made out there,” Mr. Goodell said. “I’m happy. The residents (of Presidential Hill) are happy,” added township Administrator-Engineer Paul Pogorzelski.
Mr. Wilson received township Planning Board approval to build Presidential Hill nearly 20 years ago. There are about a dozen homes in the neighborhood, which is located along Pennington Borough’s eastern border, in the area between Federal City Road and East Curlis Avenue. There is one unsold residence in the development and several vacant lots on which houses could be built.
For years, the vacant lots have been overgrown with weeds and the streets in bad shape, rife with high bumps and potholes — one of the potholes, at 5 Jefferson Place, nearly a foot deep.
Mr. Wilson spurned entreaties and legal pressure from the township and the residents to fix the problems, saying he wanted to finish the development first. That way, he said, the work wouldn’t have to be done twice. Meanwhile, in the wake of constant legal problems with Presidential Hill and other developments he has built in this area, including Oak Ridge, Mr. Wilson’s legal right to build in New Jersey has long since been revoked by the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA).
In January, after many months of wrangling with Mr. Wilson over the deplorable state of Presidential Hill, the township obtained a state Superior Court order that Mr. Wilson clear the debris and fix the streets. He didn’t do the work, however, so the township sued him several months ago. The matter went before state Superior Court Judge Neil Shuster, who toured Presidential Hill several weeks ago.
Following that tour, Mr. Wilson and township officials hammered out an out-of-court settlement in a nine-hour marathon session in Judge Shuster’s chambers. Under that settlement, Mr. Wilson will have the debris and weeds cleared away and foot the bill. Also under the settlement, the township Department of Public Works will fix the streets.
”That way we know the work will be done right,” Mr. Goodell said — and Mr. Wilson will reimburse the township with money he makes from the sale of the one finished, but unoccupied, house in the development.
While locked in conflict with Mr. Wilson over the unfinished work in the development, the township has not issued a certificate of occupancy for that home. It cannot be occupied — and hence, for all practical purposes, it cannot be sold — without that certificate of occupancy. Mr. Goodell said that, under the settlement, the township will put a lien on the house (for which the certificate of occupancy now can be issued) until Mr. Wilson has paid for fixing the streets in Presidential Hill.

