The Hopewell Township Planning Board formally memorialized preliminary approval Thursday night for a 100% affordable housing development planned for the Weidel tract along Route 31, moving the project another step through the land-use process.
The Hopewell Family Apartments project previously received preliminary site plan and minor subdivision approval. Thursday’s vote adopted the formal resolution setting out that approval and its conditions.
Only three board members present were eligible to vote because they had participated in the earlier hearing. Uma Purandare, Andrew Swords and alternate member Sujatha Sekar each voted yes.
Board attorney Trishka Cecil-Waterbury walked members through revisions made to the resolution following the hearing, including provisions dealing with landscaping, bicycle accommodations, traffic and fire protection.
One of the more substantive issues still to be resolved involves emergency access behind the proposed buildings.
Township Fire Official Andrew Fosina said an enhanced sprinkler system covering attic areas and other concealed spaces could address concerns about the limited rear access available to firefighters. The enhanced system would go beyond what is required by code.
“It limits the opportunity for fire to extend and create a situation where, you know, the rear access becomes paramount for going to get somebody out of a rear window or go get somebody off a rear balcony,” Fosina said. “So, it makes it much more firefighting efficient and safe. More importantly, safe for the occupants of the building.”
The resolution leaves several options available, including enhanced sprinklers, modifications to the site layout or shifting a property boundary to provide more space behind the buildings. Fosina said the issue can continue to be worked out before the project returns for final site plan approval.
Planning Board Chair Karen Murphy emphasized that the project’s affordable status does not lessen safety requirements.
“Just because it’s affordable housing doesn’t mean that you have a waiver of any safety,” Murphy said.
The resolution also calls for the applicant to work with the redevelopment engineer on ways to accommodate cyclists where feasible and address crosswalk and traffic signal issues near Denow Road and Route 31.
Former bank space approved for expanded medical use
In another action Thursday, the board approved an amended final site plan for an existing office and medical building at 84 Route 31, at the southwest corner of Route 31 and Woosamonsa Road.
The building was originally approved in 2006 as a mixed-use bank and office building, with no more than 2,300 square feet of medical office space. A 2008 amendment increased the permitted medical space to 4,403 square feet.
The new approval allows up to 7,716 square feet of medical office space, primarily by converting the former bank space. The change requires 85 parking spaces. The former four-lane bank drive-through and canopy will be removed and the area converted to a two-way drive aisle and 12 additional parking spaces.
Attorney Dino Spadaccini, representing 84 Hopewell LLC, told the board that the bank has already vacated the property, although its lease has not yet expired. He said the owner is seeing more interest in medical space than traditional office space and is seeking the approval now rather than waiting until a tenant is identified.
“We do not have any prospective tenants for the time being,” Spadaccini said.
The board heard no public comment on the application. Murphy said she saw “absolutely no problem or issues with this application,” while board members briefly discussed whether the parking would be adequate for medical uses it was agreed that everything met the required standards.
Community Center planning continues
The board also took a procedural step connected to Hopewell Township’s long-planned YMCA, senior and community center on Reed Road.
The board endorsed a statement of consent needed to add the proposed community center property to the sewer service area. Township Engineer Wendy Birkhead explained that the Reed Road property is not currently within the sewer service area, and the change must move through Mercer County before being incorporated into the state plan.
The relatively routine action prompted a broader discussion about where the community center project now stands.
Murphy noted that the Planning Board itself had not received an update on the project for some time and said she was pleased to see it moving forward. She also pointed to references in the sewer documentation to an indoor basketball court, pool and gym, amenities that had been part of the earlier concept plans.
MercerMe reported earlier this summer that the township has entered an intensive new round of design work on the project and that Mayor David Chait expects updated concepts to be shared publicly. Earlier plans envisioned a shared YMCA, senior and community center with pools, a gymnasium, fitness and classroom space and a purpose-built senior center.
Thursday’s discussion indicated that many of those elements remain under consideration, although the final design is not yet set.
The sewer allocation being reserved for the facility is 8,800 gallons per day, which Birkhead said was calculated to accommodate the maximum buildout contemplated in the original concept.
Board members specifically asked whether the sewer capacity would force the township to reduce an earlier proposal for two pools to one. Purandare said it would not.
“I think they’re considering the two pools because two pools were in the original planning,” Purandare said, adding that the second pool remains “a very viable option” based on community demand and discussions among the organizations involved.
She stressed, however, that decisions involving the architect, budget and other aspects of the project remain under discussion.
When asked when the board might see a more definitive proposal, Purandare said possibly within “the next couple of months,” although she did not have a firm date.
Economic plan headed toward public hearing
The board also reviewed a revised economic plan element of Hopewell Township’s Master Plan and agreed it is ready to move toward a public hearing.
Township Planner Frank Banisch said the revised document has been shaped by several rounds of Planning Board comments and earlier input from the township’s economic development work.
Banisch described the plan as an attempt to pair economic development with the township’s longstanding preservation goals, pointing to environmental, agricultural and heritage tourism as potential ways to generate economic activity while protecting farmland, historic sites and natural resources.
The plan also addresses potential commercial development along Route 31 south.
Banisch acknowledged previous concerns from board member Paul Kiss about encouraging more development there but said he believes signalized intersections can provide more appropriate locations for commercial activity than creating additional individual driveways along the highway.
“Every driveway on Route 31, driving south, if I put a business there, is a problem,” Banisch said. “At a signalized intersection, it’s a solution.”
Murphy said the board intends to schedule a public hearing after a few final corrections are made to the document. The township also plans to post the current version online before that hearing.
Resident raises concern about cumulative development
The meeting ended with a broader discussion about development and infrastructure after resident Deborah Miliaresis asked the board to consider the combined effects of projects being built or planned in the southern portion of the township.
“I would like to raise the broader concern about what I would call the death by a thousand cuts approach to development in the southern end of Hopewell Township,” Miliaresis said. “Any one development may appear manageable when considered by itself, but residents don’t experience these projects one at a time. We experience the combined traffic from all of them.”
Miliaresis pointed to construction around Denow Road, Route 31, Federal City Road and the Pennington Circle and questioned when the township evaluates the cumulative effect of multiple developments rather than looking at each application on its own.
“Planning should not be about asking whether we could fit one more development into an area,” she said. “It should be about asking whether the infrastructure can properly support everything we’re already approving.”
Murphy responded that the broader questions Miliaresis was raising are generally addressed through the township’s Master Plan rather than during individual development applications.
“When we are reviewing an application, we’re really just reviewing it about the rules,” Murphy said, explaining that the board cannot create new land-use rules while an individual application is before it.
She encouraged Miliaresis and other residents interested in those larger questions to participate when Master Plan elements come before the board for review and public hearings.
Banisch also responded, saying Miliaresis had raised concerns he has heard before and that affordable housing mandates have created difficult planning and infrastructure issues in communities across the state.
He said the township needs to consider impacts on neighboring Ewing as well as Hopewell and make sure necessary infrastructure improvements accompany development.
“More traffic is never a good thing in a neighborhood like this,” Banisch said.
“I’ve heard this several times and I don’t disagree,” he added.
Purandare then addressed one specific concern raised in the discussion — a proposed traffic signal near Federal City Road. She said Hopewell Township has already budgeted money for the traffic light but that the location involves Hopewell, Lawrence and Ewing townships, making agreement on a final plan more complicated.
“We hear you,” Purandare said. “We are working towards it, but it’s not always going to be easy.”
