Home » Hopewell Township Listens to Diverty Road Residents’ Concerns Over Future Inclusionary Development

Hopewell Township Listens to Diverty Road Residents’ Concerns Over Future Inclusionary Development

by Angela Jacobs

At a February 15th outreach meeting, the Township presented a design meant to solve concerns over having only one access road into and out of the future inclusionary residential development to be built behind the Pennington ShopRite (aka Zaitz tract).

Residents of Reed, Diverty, and Washington Crossing-Pennington Roads (Rt. 546) voiced opposition with the road’s proposed location and raised other concerns of the project.

The Township will be holding one more outreach meeting, on March 8, 2018 from 7-9pm at the Hopewell Township Municipal Building, for residents to voice their concerns, before formal recommendations are made for the revision of the Township’s Redevelopment Plan. Initial recommendations were presented at the February 26 Township Committee meeting.

Another Access Road Proposed

Besides the road to the Pennington ShopRite, which will be redesigned along with the Route 31 traffic circle, an access road will be built adjacent to the Wells Fargo Bank. Adjacent residents made their objections known, concerned that it would increase an already dangerous and congested traffic area leading to the circle, not to mention making an untenable situation for the inhabitants of Route 546. A design (see figure 1 above) for another access road was conceived by the Township and presented on February 15, 2018 to residents. The location proposed begins at the southern perimeter of the development, intersects with Diverty Road, and ends at the Denow Road jughandle.

Residents of Diverty Road brought up numerous issues with building a “Denow Road Extension”, as it is being referred, that includes concerns about: (1) establishing a “cut-through” from the Route 546 access road to the proposed Denow Road Extension; (2) safety as users of the southern access road might not continue on to the Denow Road Extension, choosing to make right turns on Diverty Road toward Reed Road or make lefts on Diverty Road, a narrow residential road, toward Route 31; and (3) a potential dead-end access at Diverty, if the Township is unable to secure a right-of-way easement from the owner of the property located between Diverty Road and the jug handle.

Addressing Concerns

Much has yet to be done before construction of the Township’s inclusionary residential development begins. The redeveloper must submit a Site Plan consistent with the Township’s Redevelopment Plan, which outlines such restrictions as building number, height, and setback distance. Permitting could take up to two years and construction may not start for 3-5 years, according to the Township. Initial recommendations for Redevelopment Plan changes include fixes for projected issues caused by a Denow Road Extension and many others, and can found on pages 15-20 by clicking here.

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