By Frank Mustac, Contributor
Mayor Kevin Kuchinski called for scheduling a series of meetings for residents to offer input on the future of Bristol Myers Squibb office complex on Pennington-Rocky Hill Road., Late last year, the pharmaceutical and health products company announced its intention to gradually move out of Hopewell Township, and fully vacate its Pennington-Rocky Hill location and a smaller site on Carter Road by 2020., BMS has told township officials that it plans to sell the properties., There are about 1,250 workers at both sites, but many of the those jobs would be moving to central New Jersey locales and to Massachusetts., According to the township, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) currently represents about 5.9 percent of Hopewell Township’s tax base., “I think we’ve only begun to have conversations about BMS,” Mayor Kuchinski said during the Feb. 27 Hopewell Township Committee meeting. “I think our primary concern, to start with, is protecting (the BMS property) as a ratable for the township. Being able to bring a comparable ratable onto that (primary) campus is important.”, Committeewoman Vanessa Sandom, who had requested the work session, said she wanted to include the larger of the BMS properties, on Pennington-Rocky Hill Road, as a possible location for future affordable housing., There is a general development plan (GDP) in place that governs the 430-acre property, 200 acres of which are dedicated to preserved farmland and open space. The site also contains its own sewerage treatment facility., The BMS property is being considered as a potential site for affordable housing, in part, because of the existing sewerage capacity., Sandom said it is up to BMS to approach Hopewell Township if the company wishes to renegotiate the GDP prior to the sale of the property to include residential housing, including housing for low- and moderate-income buyers., “One of the things the township should do is provide some direction to this large company as to whether we consider renegotiating the GDP or not,” said Sandom., Committeeman John Hart said he disagreed with changing the existing GDP to add residential housing, including affordable housing., “What we need is a ratable, and what are doing is taking away that ratable,” Hart said., Though the mayor said he agreed with Hart, he said the township is facing a constitutional obligation for affordable housing., Within a few months, a court in Trenton will determine the number of affordable housing units Hopewell Township must make available to meet its obligation., Kuchinski said that BMS’s plan to move out of the municipality “is one of the most important issues the township has ever faced.”, Anything we do with affordable housing, the mayor said, has to be with the input of everyone in the township who is impacted., The yet to be scheduled public input sessions will be held at different venues around the township, and not at the municipal building, the mayor said.
