Politics & Government

Lawrence Township Council Meeting Roundup

The last council meeting for 2011 will be held tonight, Dec. 22. At the previous meeting on Dec. 6, council discussed the red light traffic enforcement camera system on Route 1, the Complete Streets policy and sidewalks near Lawrence Intermediate School.

The final Lawrence Township Council meeting of 2011 will take place tonight, Thursday, Dec. 22, beginning at 7 p.m. in the council chambers of the township municipal building at 2207 Lawrence Rd. (Route 206).

A Patch audio recording of the previous meeting, held on Dec. 6, is now available and can be listened to from the media box at the right.

Bids totaling over $50,000 for mold remediation and repairs to the Lawrence Road Fire Co. firehouse that were approved at the Dec. 6 meeting have already been reported and .  A discussion that took place at that meeting concerning caps on employee sick leave and vacation payouts was previously .

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Red Light Camera System

Also approved during the Dec. 6 meeting were more than two dozen resolutions, including one cancelling $80,000 in appropriations previously approved for the at the intersection of Route 1 and Franklin Corner Road/Bakers Basin Road.

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“The start of that program was delayed in 2011 for various reasons – contracts, construction, weather, approvals by DOT, and scheduling of installation by the contractor,” Township Manager Richard Krawczun advised council members during the meeting.

Those delays and a mandatory month-long camera system testing period during which red light violators were issued warnings instead of tickets, Krawczun told council, “caused a loss in the revenue that was projected for that program. So in order to offset some of that lost revenue we are requesting approval to cancel $80,000 in appropriation because there won’t be any need to pay the vendor for a share of their fees because the program was not operational. You don’t pay for the warning period. You only pay when you are collecting fines.”

Krawczun later explained to Patch that the township had originally anticipated about $353,000 in revenue to be generated by the camera system during 2011, against an appropriation of $133,000.

“Due to the timing of issuing notices of penalties so close to year-end the amount of revenue anticipated to be received [during 2011] is not known at this time.  There will be penalties issued but the revenue will not be realized until the next fiscal year,” Krawczun said.

He noted that during the month-long test period a total of about 2,300 warnings were issued to motorists for red light violations.

“The term of the contract with ATS [American Traffic Solutions] is for five years from the start of enforcement. If the state cancels the pilot program then the contract would end as well. ATS receives $4,740 per approach at the intersection per month or $18,960,” Krawczun explained to Patch on Dec. 8. “ATS has not been paid any amount as of this time, all equipment, installation, permitting and cost of approvals were paid by ATS. ATS will only be paid a fee for the service when it is active.  If the revenue is not obtained in a month at a level to pay ATS then there is no direct cost to Lawrence taxpayers. The unpaid balance rolls forward. Likewise at the end there would be no balloon payment. Simply the program is financially self-sufficient.”

Complete Streets Policy

Also during the Dec. 6 meeting Krawczun distributed to council members for their review several memos from the township engineer and township planning consultant answering questions that arose during the debate earlier this year concerning the township’s Complete Streets policy and .  

Copies of these memos – which concern the right-of-way along Bergen Street, the requirements to install speed humps on Bergen Street, the classification of Bergen Street as a collector road under the Lawrence Township Master Plan, and a draft of an implementation guideline for the Complete Streets policy – can be viewed in the media box above.  

Ordinances

One ordinance was introduced during the Dec. 6 meeting and another ordinance was adopted.

The ordinance introduced on Dec. 6 amends the fees for certain recreational programs offered by the township. Krawczun, in his usual pre-meeting memo to council members, offered this explanation of that ordinance:  

The ordinance “amends selected recreation program fees. Non-resident participants are required to pay twice the prevailing program fee that is paid by township residents. This same fee structure will be amended to include organizations that have their operating base outside the township. The minimum program fee to be paid by a participant that receives a ‘scholarship’ due to financial hardship will increase from 20 to 25 percent of the applicable program fee. The next item for amendment is clarification that refunds for withdrawing from a program that has been registered for will be made minus 25 percent of the established fee and not the amount remaining due. The final amendment will extend a waiver of a temporary food license fee for Community Day participation to non-profit and not-for-profit organizations based in Lawrence Township. It will not negate the need to file for the license; only eliminate the fee for said organizations.”

The ordinance that was adopted during the Dec. 6 meeting concerns the licensing of pawn shops and other businesses involved in the purchase of precious metals, gems and previously-owned jewelry. It was noted during the meeting that the ordinance may help township police officers locate jewelry and similar items stolen during burglaries.  

The ordinance, as explained by Krawczun in his pre-meeting memo, “amends the Lawrence Township Administrative Code as it applies to the licensing of businesses engaged in the purchasing of precious metals, gems and previously owned jewelry. This amendment will now cause to be required: a license to conduct such business, a fee for the license of $250 for the initial application and an annual renewal fee of $50, a police background investigation of the applicant, proof of identity with a valid state or federal photo identification from a person selling regulated items to a licensed business, record keeping standards, the licensee must be bonded and that all regulated items purchased or traded by the licensee must be held for no less than ten days from the date of the transaction or three business days from the delivery of records to the Lawrence Police.”

Students Report

Also during the Dec. 6 meeting, students from Lawrence Intermediate School gave a report to council members about the . With pedestrian accidents the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children aged 5 to 14, the program’s goal was to teach children about pedestrian safety, including how to walk safely to and from school.

As part of the program – sponsored by St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center, the lead organization of the Mercer County Chapter of Safe Kids New Jersey – LIS students climbed into the front of a FedEx truck to clearly see for themselves how vehicles have “blind spots” in which drivers cannot see children who are nearby.

Students also walked the neighborhood around the school and later completed surveys about what they saw. Based on the results of the 312 surveys completed, the students graded Lawrence Township as “good to very good” for pedestrians. Individual results for the questions on the survey were as follows, based on a grading system of 1 (worst) to 6 (best):

  • “Did you have room to walk?” – 3.7 (some problems to good range)
  • “Was it easy to cross streets?” – 5.6 (very good to excellent range)
  • “Did drivers behave well? – 4.9 (good to very good range)
  • “Was it easy to follow safety rules?” – 5.2 (very good to excellent range)
  • “Was your walk pleasant?” 4.5 (good to very good range)

Among the problems the students noted were “too much poison ivy,” sidewalks that are broken, cracked or too narrow, too much noise, too much litter, drivers not wearing seat belts, drivers speeding up to beat red lights, and drivers smoking. Mayor Greg Puliti, in thanking the students for their report, asked them to forward the locations of the damaged sidewalks to Krawczun to see if the township can address the problems.


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