By Daniel O’Mara, Contributor
As officials in Hopewell begin eyeing the 2017 municipal budget, members of the township committee revealed tentative plans for various road resurfacing projects, as well as a new cell tower., Outlined during the Feb. 6 committee meeting, the projects were listed as part of the revised capital budget. Mayor Kevin Kuchinski identified a handful of roadways under the township’s jurisdiction that he said could benefit from some improvements., Denow Road in Pennington Township and Bull Run Road, a jointly owned roadway between Hopewell and Ewing Townships, were specifically pointed to by the mayor as areas the committee is seeking to improve., According to officials, the committee has already sought out Department of Transportation grants to help fund each project., Mayor Kuchinski said he was optimistic that the revitalized funding of the transportation trust fund will help back the project., “The state typically puts a significant portion of a road project funds towards road programs,” Mr. Kuchinski explained. “We’re hopeful that we can get some state money to help us with some of our larger road programs.”, Later in the meeting, the committee voted unanimously in favor of submitting a second grant proposal for the Bull Run Road resurfacing project., The committee also discussed the construction of a new 102 foot cell tower as part of its capital budget overview., Township Engineer Paul Pogorzelski explained that the cell tower would replace an existing police radio tower on township property and would cost between $600,000 and $800,000 to construct., Of those costs, the township would pay $100,000 going toward soft costs such as engineering and design, and $500,000 for the tower itself. An additional $200,000, Mr. Pogorzelski estimated, would be dedicated towards retrofitting that tower to correct current grounding issues., That being said, a consulting firm linked to the project estimated that the township would receive $60,000 – $80,000 a year in revenue by renting space on the tower to telecommunication companies, which would help incrementally pay off the proposed expenses., In the past, Hopewell Township has denied bids from companies like Verizon that were interested in building a tower suitable to co-locate with other providers. Mr.Pogorzelski indicated that the township would rather customize and construct a cell tower, rather than let an outside company do so., For those reasons, Mr. Pogorzelski envisioned a plan for the township to bid the land and the construction specifications simultaneously., Meanwhile, the township will allow bids for outside communications companies to reserve a spot on the tower. Hopewell Township would then have an idea of the overall cost of the tower and the companies involved all at once., As for the current tower, the committee explored the idea of auctioning off the structure as a means of creating revenue towards the new project.
