Township rezoning plans demand citizens’ attention
By:Ruth Luse
On June 21, the Hopewell Township Committee is planning to take action on three ordinances that would, if adopted, have a major impact on zoning in the over-60-square-mile municipality.
On May 18, the committee introduced measures that would:
• Eliminate the IOP zone (Industrial Office Park) — The current IOP zone includes the west side of Scotch Road (north of I-95 and west to close to the Jacob’s Creek area). The 440 acres purchased by Merrill Lynch (which is building an office park complex on the east side of Scotch now) are included in the IOP zone.
Also included in the existing IOP are areas located off the eastern side of Route 31, between Titus Mill Road and Route 654, and on the western side of Route 31 in the same area. These would be rezoned for mixed use — a blend of light industry, office and commercial.
• Change the zoning of the area west of Scotch Road to Valley Agricultural (VA — a new zone that would be created by a residential rezoning ordinance introduced May 18). VA would allow one housing unit per four acres. Under the proposed rezoning, VA would replace the R200 zone, which allows two units per acre. Large areas of the VA zone would be in the central, east-central and west-central township.
• Add a new Mountain Conservation (MC) zone that would allow six-acre lots and replace the R250 zone. This would include nearly all of the northern fourth of the township.
Concerning the residential components of these rezoning plans, there are no real surprises. Since the early days of planned zoning in the township, many of the areas slated for VA and MC zoning in this new proposal, were considered areas in which dense development was impossible because of existing environmental constraints.
Concerning the removal of the IOP zone from the township’s zoning plan, which — according to planner Michael Bolan — allows a potential of 18 million square feet of nonresidential development (6.3 million square feet of which has already been approved), perhaps the time has come to say “halt.” Perhaps we now have enough good nonresidential ratables, including Bristol-Myers Squibb (which plans major expansion), Janssen Pharmaceutica, Lucent Technologies, the vacant Townsend property (former Western Electric) and Merrill Lynch.
A major reason for saying ‘halt” is the lack of highways to handle any more traffic. There is no need to comment again about the traffic that already has made Route 31 a nightmare to drive and has put Route 29 in danger of becoming something other than the “scenic byway” is was intended to be.
Another major reason is the Hopewell Valley Regional School District, the size and nature of which would be changed forever if a flood of housing units was to overwhelm the landscape and demand more and more student space and services, as well as millions and millions more taxpayer dollars.
We urge the citizens of Hopewell Township to educate themselves about the three proposals and to address any questions about them in writing and give them to the township clerk, Annette Bielawski, as soon as possible. The public hearing on all three measures is set for June 21 at 7 p.m. Officials need the questions soon in order to prepare for that meeting.
Mayor Marylou Ferrara said copies of the ordinances (including the map showing how the township would be zoned if all changes go through) have been left with Clerk Bielawski. Copies also can be found at the Hopewell Township Branch of the Mercer County Library.