MARLBORO – Municipal officials want improvements made to a busy intersection in Marlboro and they are willing to pay for a portion of the work that is proposed.
At its meeting on Oct. 19, the Township Council will consider the adoption of an ordinance appropriating $23,750 from capital surplus for improvements at the intersection of Monmouth County Route 520 and Tennent Road (Monmouth County Route 3).
The intersection, which is one of the busiest locations in Marlboro in terms of traffic volume, is near Route 18, which is a state highway. The ordinance states that the township does not have jurisdiction at the Route 520 and Tennent Road intersection.
In the ordinance, which was introduced on Oct. 5, officials said Marlboro’s Traffic Advisory Committee has “recommended specific improvements on state and county highways which required coordination with state and county agencies.”
The ordinance states that the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) “reviewed and responded to Mayor (Jonathan) Hornik’s requests for improvements at Route 520 and (Tennent Road) at Route 18 with a preliminary cost estimate on Aug. 3, 2017 and a preliminary scope of work dated Aug. 24, 2017.”
The DOT will “perform an investigation of the existing traffic signal to include review of the addition of exclusive left hand turn phases for each quadrant of the intersection, installation of left hand turn signals for each approach to the intersection, and modification of the existing striping and signs due to signal improvements,” according to the ordinance.
The DOT has agreed to fund 75 percent of the costs of the $95,000 project and Marlboro will agree to fund 25 percent of the costs, or $23,750, according to the ordinance, which describes the intersection of Route 520 and Tennent Road as being “critical to the flow of traffic through the township.”
The council’s Oct. 19 meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse of the Rosemont Estates adult community, 246 Everton Blvd., Marlboro. Residents who wish to comment on the ordinance may do so at that time. The council may vote to adopt the ordinance that evening.
In other business on Oct. 5, the council passed a resolution which will permit the Stattel family of Marlboro to continue to plant, grow and harvest agricultural crops on property at Route 520 and Route 79.
The Stattel family owned and farmed the property for many years before selling it to the township so that it may be preserved.
A previous agreement permitted the Stattel family to farm the property through June 30, 2017. The new agreement will run from Oct. 6, 2017 through July 31, 2018, in the amount of $700, according to the resolution.
The resolution authorizes the execution of a temporary use and occupancy agreement and states that Marlboro “is in the process of working with both the State Agricultural Development Committee and New Jersey Green Acres on the permanent preservation of the parcel.”
The document states that “it is in the interest of the township for crops to be planted during the fall season and to have the parcel continuously farmed during the preservation process.”