Public hearings on a spate of ordinances including one that limits parking on streets across from Lawrence High School are slated for Township Council’s Tuesday night meeting.
By: Lea Kahn
The council’s first meeting in five weeks will start at 8 p.m. in the courtroom at the municipal building. The council has been on its summer meeting schedule.
A public hearing will be held on an ordinance that restricts parking on selected streets in the vicinity of Lawrence High School between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on days when school is in session. Violators would be subject to a maximum fine of $500.
Under the ordinance, permits would be issued to residents who live on selected streets so they can park there when the restrictions are in effect. Permits also will be issued to "nonresidents," who will be allowed to park in specially designated parking spaces on the streets.
The affected streets are the entire length of Lannigan Drive, Mink Court, Whitemarsh Drive, Hillsdale Road and Hoover Avenue. Also affected are Foch Avenue, between Lannigan Drive and Hughes Avenue; Hughes Avenue, between Princeton Pike and Glenn Avenue; Glenn Avenue, between Hughes Avenue and Johnson Road; and the north side of Gainsboro Road along the Lawrence Middle School athletic fields.
Township and school district officials have been wrestling with problems residents say arise when students park on streets near Lawrence High School. Neighbors have complained that the students block their driveways and mailboxes. Others have complained of some students’ unruly behavior.
Also scheduled for a public hearing is a bond ordinance that appropriates $8.4 million to buy the 183-acre Carson Road Woods property for open space preservation. The land belongs to developer G. Rieder & Sons Inc. of South Brunswick.
The money for the purchase actually will come from several sources. Private donations account for $3 million of the purchase price. The remaining $5.4 million of the purchase price includes $2 million in state Green Acres Program money, plus $1.2 million each from Mercer County and Lawrence Township. The Delaware & Raritan Greenway and the Lawrence Township Conservation Foundation will contribute $500,000 each.
The council plans to hold a public hearing on an ordinance that permits the installation of garbage disposal systems in residential and commercial kitchens. Township regulations do not permit garbage disposal systems because of concerns that the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority plant could not handle it, but a recent study of the ELSA treatment plant allayed those fears.
An ordinance that would change the speed limits on portions of Princeton Pike, between the Princeton Township border and Franklin Corner Road, is slated for a public hearing. The 25-miles-per-hour speed limit on Princeton Pike, south of its intersection with Franklin Corner Road, will not change.
And the council will hold a public hearing on an ordinance that would expand the Length of Service Awards Program for the township’s volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians.
The ordinance would place a special question on the Nov. 6 general election ballot. It would ask voters whether they want to provide credit for volunteers who have up to five years of service.
LOSAP is like a pension. It is aimed at retaining volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians, and attracting new ones. The township contributes $500 annually to a tax-deferred income account for volunteers who meet certain requirements based on a point system.
In other business, Township Council expects to take action on several resolutions, including one that authorizes a payment of $100,000 toward the purchase of the Albert Chmiel property on Cold Soil Road.
The Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders will pay $1.2 million for the 47-acre parcel on Cold Soil Road, near Jochris Drive. The county will pay $1.1 million from its open space fund and Lawrence Township will contribute $100,000 from its open space fund.
And the council plans to act on a resolution that asks the state Department of Transportation for help in redesigning Brunswick Pike, between the Brunswick Traffic Circle and Whitehead Road. The resolution seeks the services of a traffic consultant to help determine the feasibility of design alternatives.
