HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: Trail group asks $850K for project finish

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   Officials of the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail have asked Hopewell Township for $850,000 to pay for completing the trail by 2012.
   Currently 60 percent complete, the LHT is a 20-mile, mostly-off-road loop connecting the two townships. The trail is for cyclists, runners, walkers and hikers.
   At Monday night’s Township Committee meeting, Becky Taylor, LHT co-president, asked the committee to fund completion of the trail with open space tax revenues. “The request is for three sections of the trail for which no other funding is available,” Ms. Taylor said.
   Deputy Mayor Michael Markulec, the township’s representative on the LHT board, backed use of open space tax revenues, saying the LHT project “is the perfect usage for this type of funding.”
   ”From the very beginning 10 years ago, we envisioned the LHT as a community asset that would enable people from all walks of life to get safe, outdoor recreation while enjoying the natural beauty and features of our towns,” said Ms. Taylor.
   ”In two years, we want families, kids and student-athletes to be able to walk or ride their bikes between schools and playing fields, commuters to ride their bikes to places of employment, and families to enjoy outings on the LHT,” she said.
   The LHT loop traces a rough circle from Mercer County Park NW (in southern Hopewell Township) northward toward Pennington-Rocky Hill Road and eventually turns to link with the Lawrence Township portion near the Educational Testing Service (an online map is available at www.lhtrail.org).
   Mercer County expects to complete major sections of the LHT in Mercer County Park NW and Rosedale Park late this year, leaving three segments to close the loop in Hopewell Township.
   The LHT Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that includes companies, municipal and county governments, other not-for-profit organizations and volunteers as its members.
   Co-President Taylor said most of the resources for trail construction to date have come from corporate, state and county grants and individual donations. The request Ms. Taylor submitted to the committee seeks funds from Hopewell Township’s open space tax levy, which, as a result of a 2009 public referendum, specifically provides funds for recreational trail construction and maintenance.
   Ms. Taylor said the LHT board has committed itself to help fight the trend toward obesity, particularly among children, through safe, healthy outdoor exercise.
   ”We also hope the Township Committee recognizes that this project is distinctly different than other open space projects, as it provides residents access to many hundreds of acres of preserved land paid for with taxpayer dollars,” Ms. Taylor added. “That is consistent with state policy, county policy and the Hopewell Township Master Plan, and we think it just makes common sense.”
   If approved by the committee, the $850,000 request is expected to become part of the township’s capital budget, financed primarily through long-term borrowing, as is typical for such capital projects.
   The Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corporation is a nonprofit organization, run by volunteers. For more information visit: www.lhtrail.org.