Politics & Government

Lawrence Township Council News Roundup

Emergency appropriations to cover the cost of repairing a road damaged by Hurricane Irene and a new pedestrian crosswalk on Craven Lane were among the items discussed at the latest council meeting.

The following is a summary of the discussions held before the township’s governing body and the actions taken during that meeting on Sept. 6.

The meeting began with Mayor Greg Puliti asking for a moment of silence in memory of Lawrence Township resident , who was killed when he was sucked down a sewer manhole as he tried to clear flood water in the days after Hurricane Irene, and also Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad rescuer Michael Kenwood, who died in the line-of-duty while trying to check a submerged vehicle in Princeton Township during the hurricane.

Puliti then went on to briefly discuss the township’s response to the hurricane, and offered his thanks to the township’s emergency management personnel, including the members of the township’s three volunteer fire companies.

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Township Manager Richard Krawczun said township officials had not yet held their post-hurricane analysis, but when it is done they will be sure to update the town’s Emergency Operations Plan to address pet evacuations () and discuss how the distribution of accurate information during emergencies can be improved. Councilwoman Pam Mount suggested the township consider using Facebook and Twitter, while Councilman Michael Powers noted that the Rider University radio station might be a resource that could be used in an emergency.

Storm Recovery

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Council members approved several resolutions authorizing emergency appropriations totaling $130,000 for, as Krawczun explained, “the initial repairs or costs that we are aware of from this storm event.”

Krawczun said $50,000 of that amount would be used to pay for repairs to the road surface and a portion of the guardrail where Quakerbridge Road intersects with Quaker Road at the Princeton Township border along the Delaware & Raritan Canal. .   

Princeton Township and state agencies – such as the New Jersey Water Supply Authority and Delaware & Raritan Canal Commission – were expected to cover the costs of necessary repairs to the road, guardrail and canal in those areas not within Lawrence Township’s jurisdiction, he said. PSE&G, meanwhile, took care of repairs to a natural gas line in that area that was exposed by the flood waters, he noted.

As a companion to the emergency appropriation resolutions, the council introduced a capital ordinance funding, from the current year’s budget, the $50,000 for the road repairs. It was expected that, of that amount, as much as $47,500 might be reimbursed to the township at a later date as disaster aid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (The council is expected to adopt the ordinance at its next meeting on Sept. 20.)

“This particular ordinance is being proposed tonight for introduction to create funding for road repairs caused by flooding and the washout of Quakerbridge Road as it goes into the Port Mercer area,” Krawczun told council members during the meeting. “That location was severely damaged by a failure of the berm that separates the canal from the wet area adjacent to it. And what happened is that rush of water washed out some of the road and some of the subsurface of the roadway from that point of the intersection where the bridge is going north into Princeton.”

The remaining $80,000 in emergency appropriations was to cover the estimated costs for the township’s garbage hauler, Central Jersey Waste and Recycling, to put additional trucks and staff on the road to collect and dispose of all the extra waste material put out by residents cleaning their flooded basements and clearing storm debris from their properties, Krawczun said. The majority of that amount - $60,000 – was earmarked for the tonnage of the trash, he said, explaining that “the cost for Central Jersey was a flat fee – per truck, per day – but the weight that they collect we have to pay separately.”

“As far as the money for Central Jersey Waste and the Mercer County Improvement Authority – that $80,000 combined total – absent FEMA funding, we would have to make a determination of how much of that appropriation could be cancelled by the end of the year. Any un-cancelled portion would have to be raised in the 2012 budget as what’s known as a deferred charge,” Krawczun said.

While storm recovery work in the Port Mercer area continues, repairs to Quakerbridge and Quaker roads were completed sufficiently that the roadway was opened to traffic earlier this week.

Craven Lane Crosswalk

Also introduced during the meeting was an ordinance which, if approved by the council at a later meeting, would install a mid-block pedestrian crosswalk where the Johnson Trolley Line pedestrian and bicycle path cuts across Craven Lane. Such a crosswalk would have all state-required signage and road markings but there would not be a crossing guard posted there during school hours, Krawczun explained.

Councilman Bob Bostock questioned whether locating the crosswalk in that specific place to accommodate trail users might have the unintended effect of creating a hazard for children who use the road to walk to school.  

“Craven Lane is pretty busy in the morning and afternoon when students are being dropped off and picked up at Lawrenceville Elementary School,” Bostock said. “We want to make sure we’re not creating a false sense of security for pedestrians by having a marked crosswalk that [motorists] are going to have difficulty adapting to.”

Krawczun explained that the proposal to locate the crosswalk near the trail was “to address a general population issue of where people are physically moving.” But Bostock requested that the administration reach out to the school district and the principal of Lawrenceville Elementary School to see if they had any concerns about the proposed crosswalk.

“I just really want to be careful that, in addressing the concern of folks who use the trail, we are not creating a problem for the kids who use that street every day, twice a day, during the school year,” he said. “Having had two kids in that school over the course of eight different years, [traffic safety on Craven Lane] is a constant issue that every year seems to have a new solution. We want to make sure we’re not creating a problem for the children.... So I’d like to make sure we have some good feedback from [school officials] before we go forward with this at the next meeting.”

Adoption of Ordinances

Also during the meeting, council approved four ordinances which:

  • revise a previously-adopted capital ordinance to permit roof replacement and roof painting at the Lawrenceville Fire Co. firehouse
  • increase the fees for a township cat license (raising them from $8 to $11 for a spayed or neutered pet, and from $11 to $14 for a cat that is not spayed or neutered)
  • increase the salary grade of the deputy township clerk and emergency management coordinator
  • amend the township’s rules governing tow truck operators contracted by the police department

The towing ordinance was initially revised to create an appeals process for tow truck operators whose applications to work for the township police are denied. This was done to correct . But, after agreed to increase the fees 10 percent prior to introducing the ordinance.

During that August meeting Councilman Powers objected to making such fee changes “on the fly,” and cast the lone vote against adopting the ordinance during the Sept. 6 meeting.

Councilman Bostock, meanwhile, cast the lone vote against adopting the salary grade ordinance. During the Aug. 2 meeting, Bostock explained his opposition by saying that “at this point in the year, after we have laid folks off and not filled positions, authorizing this increase, this change in grade, at this time, to me, is not an appropriate move.”

Resolutions

In addition to the resolutions authorizing the post-hurricane emergency appropriations, the council approved nearly three dozen other resolutions. Among these were resolutions accepting various state and county grants, including: $7,500 for the purchase of a new bomb detection dog for the police department; $4,400 for the police department to participate in the “Over the Limit, Under Arrest” 2011 statewide drunk driving enforcement initiative; and $414,000 from the New Jersey Community Block Grant Program to fund the reconstruction of the roof at the headquarters of .

Simone Appeal

The council also gave its authorization for Krawczun and Township Attorney Michael W. Herbert to attempt to negotiate a settlement with real estate developer John Simone over his appeal of fees charged by the township as part of his failed bid to obtain a zoning variance that would have allowed an inpatient drug and alcohol detox facility in a building he owns.  

“The Simone Investment Group has filed an appeal of various fees that were charged as part of the zoning board application for the rehabilitation center on Federal City Road. The contested fees include several different attorney’s fees, some fees from the planning staff and the board staff. We’d like authority to sit down and negotiate a settlement to this matter,” Herbert explained.


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