EDITORIAL
By:Ruth Luse
A recreation complex on 48 acres of school-district owned property known as Back Timberlane:
Few recent topics, with the possible exception of Merrill Lynch and sewer service, have generated as many letters to the editor and as many comments at recent school board and Hopewell Township meetings as the plan to place an athletic complex on unused land on the western side of the Timberlane Middle School site.
The idea of this complex has split the community apart. Some see the plan as the realization of a dream and an answer to the need for more recreation space for the entire community, while others view it with disdain, saying it would upset the environmental balance of the area and be a blight on the adjoining residential neighborhood.
On one side of the fence are those who created and/or back the plan (groups such as the Recreation Roundtable, the Recreation Foundation, the Hopewell Valley Municipal Alliance and the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education). On the other side is a very committed group of people, known as SAFE-T, which strongly opposes the placing of a complex on the Timberlane site, because of the effects its members sincerely believe the plan would have on their neighborhood.
The complex, which could be used by all Hopewell Valley residents, cannot be built without the approval of the Hopewell Township Planning Board, which has yet to schedule a hearing (site plan and final site plan approval) on the project. The Recreation Roundtable’s application to build the complex currently will be considered by the board’s Application Review Committee (ARC), which, under township law, must declare the application complete before it can advance to the full Planning Board
Recent revisions to the plan have been filed with the ARC. As noted in an account this week, the revisions include: modifications based on concerns about irrigation, drainage, buffers for neighboring properties, and lighting; a full traffic study; an assessment of need based on reports from the school district, recreational leagues and organizations such as the YMCA and American Legion baseball; and an analysis of maintenance costs.
In an effort to further educate the Hopewell Valley citizenry about the revised plan, an open house has been set for March 8, from 7-9 p.m. at the Hopewell Township Branch of the Mercer County Library.
We hope proponents, opponents and those who know little about the proposal will drop by that evening, look at the plan and ask questions. This event could be the only one of its kind held prior to the Hopewell Township Planning Board meeting at which a decision on the complex ultimately will be made.
Citizens should know that this proposal was created to improve recreational facilities and opportunities for the entire Valley community, but that its fate will rest upon a decision that will be made by Hopewell Township officials, because the land in question is located in that municipality.
We urge all of you residents Valleywide to learn all you can about this plan now, and then to speak out and let your town’s officials know how you feel. Watch this newspaper, too, for details about future meetings and gatherings at which this topic which should be of importance to all will be discussed and/or acted upon!