Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
With less than three months before a threatened shutdown of the Hopewell Valley Senior Center, Hopewell Township and Hopewell and Pennington boroughs have approved resolutions in support of keeping it open.
The governing bodies of the three towns each adopted a resolution affirming their support for the Hopewell Valley Senior Center, located on Reading Street in Pennington Borough. They each pledged to work together to make needed repairs to the building, which belongs to Pennington Borough.
The resolutions acknowledge that building a new senior center will take time, and therefore they will work together to get community donations, in-kind donations and possibly a Mercer County grant to make interim repairs and upgrades to the Hopewell Valley Senior Center on Reading Street.
Hopewell Township has already taken one step toward meeting its pledge. The township committee has accepted an offer from Trap Rock Industries to donate more than 200 tons of asphalt to resurface the parking area and access to the senior center.
The Hopewell Valley Senior Center grew out of a Community Development Block Grant in 1985 to create a regional senior citizens center. The grant was used to renovate a Pennington Borough-owned building on Reading Street, creating a senior citizens center that serves residents of the three Hopewell Valley towns.
But during the past 10 years, the building had begun to deteriorate. The Hopewell Valley Senior Advisory Board also said it did not meet the seniors’ needs. Several months ago, Pennington Borough put Hopewell Borough and Hopewell Township on notice that it could not pay for the needed repairs and that it would close the doors on Jan. 1, 2018.
Faced with the impending closure of the Hopewell Valley Senior Center, Hopewell Township officials commissioned a non-binding survey earlier this year to find out what Hopewell Valley residents would like to see in a new facility.
The survey results indicated support for a multi-use community center that would include dedicated space for Hopewell Valley senior citizens. Hopewell Township officials are still evaluating the survey results and alternatives for a replacement facility.
