By Frank Mustac, Special Writer
Committee members in Hopewell Township recently approved an agreement to memorialize the shared ownership and use of the property known as the “Twin Pines Airport Recreation Site” with nearby Lawrence Township.
The approximately 50-acre site located off of Pennington-Lawrenceville Road near Federal City Road sits on the border of the two municipalities.
“The goal has always been to come to an agreement that will serve us many years into the future to apportion the use of the site and make sure that Lawrence and Hopewell can cooperatively use the site,” Hopewell Township attorney Steven Goodell said.
Though the property currently contains an artificial turf athletic field and several natural turf fields, the site was previously used as an airport from 1945 to 2008.
Previously owned by the Weasners family, the land was sold to Mercer County, as well as the municipalities of Lawrence Township, Hopewell Township, Pennington Borough and Hopewell Borough.
Grant money from Mercer at Play, a program that encourages municipalities to rehabilitate or create athletic fields or facilities, was used in part to purchase the land.
During the July 25 Township Committee meeting, Mr. Goodell said both townships had been working together to maintain the property for several years while using it for their individual purposes.“We’ve got good procedures already in place for apportioning responsibilities and duties,” Mr. Goodell said. “So this (agreement) deals with the accounting, it deals with dividing the property between the two of us, determining responsibility for maintenance, determining responsibilities for liabilities should they arise on the property, and insurance.”
In addition to establishing responsibilities between the two townships, Hopewell Township Chief Financial Officer Elaine Cruickshank-Borges said the agreement has allowed officials to look back at expenses incurred since 2008 to see if either municipality owes money to the other.
“We went through all the expenses, pulled out vouchers, copies of checks, put all the documentation together,” she said. “Both of us were satisfied that we had everything.”
Officials ultimately determined that Lawrence Township owed approximately $130,000 to Hopewell Township, according to Ms. Cruickshank-Borges.
Recognizing the eight-year gap between the site’s purchase and the approval of the towns’ agreement, Deputy Mayor Vanessa Sandom suggested that any similar pacts be finalized faster than it took for the Twin Pines property.
“As we consider more Mercer At Play grants, we might want to make sure we have these kind of agreements in place earlier in the process rather than later,” Ms. Sandom said. “I know this has taken us a long time to get this going¼(but) in the future, I’m hoping that we can use this as an example of how to structure and agreement.”
In response, Mr. Goodell said that cooperation between the two municipalities over the past several years was due in large part to the efforts of Paul Pogorzelski, the Hopewell Township administrator, and Richard Krawczun, the manager for Lawrence Township.
“(Pogorzelski and Krawczun) have a very good working relationship,” Mr. Goodell said. “There is a great deal of trust that they have between them. That allowed them to function without an agreement for a long time. And once it came time to doing the agreement, it went pretty quickly.”
