BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP: $350K grant will fund bikeway in local park

By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
   BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — The Township Committee on Monday unanimously approved using $350,000 in grant money to fund the construction of a bikeway in Veterans Memorial Park.
   The township received the grant from the state Department of Transportation in early 2008. While the township applied in 2005 for $500,000, the original estimated cost of the project, the DOT did not give out grants for the next two years.
   The original plan was to construct a 5,126-foot linear path that would run from Ward Avenue to Valley Forge Road. Its goal would have been to connect the Peter Muschal School, Bordentown Regional High School and Joseph Lawrence Park to several residential communities including Cherry Lane, Eaton Road, Fern Lane, Independence Drive and two locations on Valley Forge Road.
   But the amount of path that actually gets built will depend on contractor bids, the next step in the process, said Township Administrator Leonard Klepner.
   ”Eventually, they would want to build it out to connect into new areas of the township that would be under redevelopment, all the way to the waterfront that’s proposed as part of the redevelopment out there,” he said.
   ”If it goes into that area, around Crystal Lake eventually, then it could connect up with the county park in Mansfield. So you’re starting really to create a longer and more complex route that goes beyond even the municipality.”
   In other business, the committee also unanimously voted to adopt an ordinance limiting political contributions made by individuals or businesses that seek to or do perform business in the township.
   The ordinance limits the township’s business dealings with those who have made, solicited or pledged to make contributions to officials with the responsibility to award a contract to them, as well as to township or county committee members, parties and political groups that support them.
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