By Frank Mustac, Special Writer
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP — Julie Blake, who earned election Tuesday to the five-member Hopewell Township Committee, knows the work is just beginning.
“There are a lot of challenges ahead,” she said.
A Democrat and high school counselor by profession, Ms. Blake unofficially received 1,852 votes or 54 percent of a total 3,427 ballots cast, while the incumbent and current mayor Harvey Lester garnered 1,570 votes, or 45.8 percent.
After learning of her victory, Ms. Blake said, “I’m really happy. I’m very proud that our message came through to residents of Hopewell Township. I felt like either way it was a win because I got to meet really wonderful people.”
With Hopewell Township facing ongoing affordable housing-related litigation in court, Ms. Blake said she intends as much as possible to “not let the state Legislature off the hook for their responsibility on affordable housing.”
“We need affordable housing, there is no doubt about it, but the numbers the court is (considering) are excessive. They don’t seem reasonable,” she said. “I feel the legislature needs . . . to be responsible as well.”
Mayor Lester said, “I want to thank the voters and supporters who believed in my vision of limited development, fiscal responsibility and good open government. While I am disappointed in the results of this election, I will stay active and continue to fight for a positive future for Hopewell Township.
Prior to Election Day, Ms. Blake said that one of the major issues of the campaign was over-development.
“Over-development is a serious threat as it stresses our schools, roads, public services and environment,” she said answering campaign questions from The Hopewell Valley News.
“We have to be mindful of how we will meet out affordable housing responsibilities. I am worried about proposals to overdevelop the Route 31 corridor and the southern tier.
“Why has the township planned extensive housing developments that will clog the area between I-95 and the Pennington Circle? That stretch of road is one of the most dangerous corridors in Mercer County. Why would we feed more traffic into it? In short, we do not want to create an ’affordable housing district’ in Hopewell Township nor do we want to develop tracts of land that require expensive construction and sewers,” Ms. Blake said.
