By John Tredrea, Special Writer
A public hearing on a controversial proposal to amend Hopewell Township’s Master Plan to enable construction of a large mixed-use development off Scotch Road in the southern township will be held tonight (Dec. 4), during a Planning Board meeting that begins at 7 p.m. in the municipal auditorium.
Adoption of the Master Plan would be the next in a lengthy series of steps needed to be taken for the development to be built.
If the Planning Board approves the amendment, rezoning of the land in question would have to take place for the proposed development to be built. That rezoning can only be done by the Township Committee.
Township attorney Steve Goodell summarized the legal process needed for the development to be built.
"If the Master Plan is amended, the township planner would draft ordinances designed to put the goals of the master plan in law," Mr. Goodell said. "The governing body (the Township Committee) would then introduce the proposed ordinances for first reading. Because these are land use ordinances, they would have to be sent to the Planning Board for review. Once the Planning Board has reviewed the ordinances and issued a report, they are returned to the governing body for second reading, public hearing and adoption vote."
Mr. Goodell added that since this particular development also involves property that is subject to the Merrill Lynch settlement agreement with the township, that agreement must be amended.
"All parties to the settlement agreement must consent to the amendment, and it must be approved by resolution of the governing body. In terms of timing, the settlement agreement should be amended before the new ordinances are adopted," he said.
The proposed development would be built on the east and west sides of Scotch Road, between I-95 to the south and Washington Crossing Road (county Route 546) to the north. Already built on the east side is Merrill Lynch’s Southfields office park, and the Capital Health Systems hospital.
Tentatively named Jacobs Creek Village, the proposed development would cover about 600 acres and would have about 1,500 residences, to be built over a time period of about 10 years. The residences would include about 500 apartments — one-, two- and three-bedroom — and about 1,000 modestly sized, single-family homes and townhouses.
The Planning Board has said it wants 20 percent of the residences in the development to be for low- and moderate-income residents. This would help the township comply with its state mandate to provide 1,100 low- and moderate-income units within the next 10 years.
In developing the proposed amendment, the township and its planning consultant, Frank Banisch, met with real estate expert Jeffrey Otteau, who said the greater Mercer area has a vast oversupply of office space.
The land on which Jacobs Creek Village would go currently is zoned for office use. In addition to saying the land could absorb the 500 apartments and 1,000 single family homes and townhouses, Mr. Otteau said it also could sustain approximately 203,000 square feet of retail space and 94,000 square feet of office space.
The proposed development would be buffered from Scotch and Washington Crossing roads by preserved farmland and woodlands. An expansion of the area entitled to public sewer service would be required. For that, a deal would have to be made with the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority (ELSA), which already services the Merrill Lynch campus, the CHS hospital and other developed areas of the southern township.
