By John Tredrea, Special Writer
Hopewell Borough Council continued to discuss, at its Sept. 6 meeting, what changes could be made to improve traffic safety on several streets in the downtown area, borough Administrator/Clerk Michele Hovan said Friday.
Ms. Hovan said areas of concern include Seminary Avenue and its intersections with East Prospect Street and Columbia Avenue, and East Prospect Street’s intersection with Princeton Avenue.
Hopewell Elementary School is on Princeton Avenue, near its intersection with East Prospect Street.
One of the options the council decided to nix, Ms. Hovan said, was making Seminary Avenue a one-way street between Columbia Avenue and East Prospect Street.
”All of the intersections that were discussed have unique and concerning sight issues,” she said. Possible changes to improve traffic safety include new signs and new parking regulations on the streets involved.
ALSO DISCUSSED by council at its Sept. 6 meeting, Ms. Hovan said, was the issue of extending borough sewer lines beyond the borough border. She said the issue has been raised, in part, because a resident of Hopewell Township, which surrounds the borough, has asked that the borough consider extending sewer service to his property.
For years, the borough has had a restriction against extending water and sewer lines outside the borough.
Ms. Hovan said the discussion now is “an opportunity to look at whether that restriction is as important as it used to be,” when there was a lot of development in the township during the real estate boom of the 1980s and 1990s and a few years beyond that.
Also changing the issue, she said, has been the preservation of the large St. Michael’s tract near the borough as open space. That tract is permanently deed-restricted against development.
IN OTHER BUSINESS, Ms. Hovan said, council introduced a $40,000 bond ordinance for removal of an underground oil tank on the property of the Hopewell firehouse.
”We expect that this will cover most or all of the potential cost of removing the tank and soil remediation,” she s said.
The proposed bond ordinance is expected to be scheduled for a public hearing and adoption vote at council’s October meeting, she said.

