CRANBURY: Town looking at grant money options

By Kaitlyn Kanzler, Special Writer
   CRANBURY – Several residents voiced their concerns over the Township’s ideas for the improvement of the historic downtown area at the first public meeting for the beautification subcommittee Tuesday.
   The Downtown Beautification Subcommittee was created after the Township received a grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for $220,000 for a quality of life project.
   ”Our mission is to maintain and revitalize our historic Cranbury Village and community as stewards of these grant funds,” subcommittee member and meeting facilitator, Lynne Fox said.
   According to Ms. Fox, the Township has 18 months to use the allotted money for the beautification of Main Street, which is classified as a historic district.
   ”Our big purpose and intention is to gather (resident) input and advice on how we should invest and spend this money in our town,” Ms. Fox said.
   The initial plan had been to install brick sidewalks all along both sides of North Main Street, with an area stretching from West Driveway to Bunker Hill.
   ”(The) $220,000 cannot solve the world,” Ms. Fox said. “It’ can’t fix every sidewalk, it can’t fix every curb, and it can’t put up beautiful lighting or trees. You can’t do all of it.”
   The subcommittee presented residents with several different options.
   Option one was an overall aesthetic look including lights, outside furniture, trees, sidewalks, and planters, while option two was to replace the sidewalks with brick for as far as the money allowed.
   ”What do we want Cranbury to be? Cranbury is a historic village,” architect and subcommittee member Bill Gittings said. “It’s not necessarily downtown Princeton and it’s not an urban center, but it’s a village where houses are next to stores.”
   During an activity set up by Ms. Fox, the residents were able to cast votes on what they felt the money should be spent on.
   Every resident chose option one, but some voted to have the sidewalks as part of that beautification option, according to Ms. Fox.
   One resident suggested the subcommittee look at Highstown’s downtown area and get in contact with that town to see how they went about their beautification.
   Betty Wagner, a resident of Cranbury for 42 years, voiced her concerns over whether or not brick is a good choice for restoring the historical feel of the community.
   ”I’m so afraid we might get carried away with some of the fancy things we’re seeing,” Ms. Wagner said. “Cranbury is very unique. We’re proud of our streetscape.”
   According to Mr. Szabo, the goal isn’t to replicate historic Cranbury, but to promote the historic village as a destination and cultural resource to be enjoyed by residents and visitors.
   According to Sue Westerberg from the Women’s Club of Cranbury, the Women’s Club is thinking about helping the committee fundraise for this project.
   Ms. Westerberg, who is a trustee and chair of the conservation and garden department of the Woman’s Club, said the club already maintains the 14 barrels in town and would like to contribute somehow to the hanging planters that were one of the several different ideas presented.
   Bill Schilling, a resident and Agricultural Food and Resource Economics professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, suggested that he could talk with the university’s landscape architect class to possibly help design the look for the downtown area.
   The committee will decide on what road to choose at the Oct. 8 meeting.
   The subcommittee’s next meeting is Oct. 17 where they will discuss the suggestions made by the residents.