Township Youth Center Construction Contract Awarded

Construction of the long-awaited township youth center project will begin next week, with work starting on the center’s parking lot.

That was the word from Township Councilwoman Kimberly Francois (D-At Large) who spoke before the Council approved a $9.8 million contract for the youth center’s construction at the Council’s June 25 meeting.

The parking lot, Francois said, will be used as a staging area for construction vehicles during the youth center’s construction.

“Everything at this point is on schedule for September of next year, and we’re really looking forward to the opening next year,” she said.

Plans are for the center, targeted for Lewis Street, to be opened in September 2020.

The youth center is Francois’ signature project; after her last re-election, in 2015, Francois said her main goal during this term would be getting the youth center built.

Francois said there are a number of organizations expressing interest in providing services at the center.

“We are working with a lot of community groups in the township, because there are a lot of people stepping forward, they want to participate and provide programs and services and activities in that building, and so, the only concern I have right now is we’re going to have a scheduling problem because we’re going to have so many things going on at the same time,” she said. “We just need time to work that out.”

“We’ll be having more community forums,” Francois said. “We had to get his part done first, then we’ll start to bring more people in. Stay tuned.”

The $9,777,000 contract was awarded to H&S Construction and Mechanical of Elizabeth.

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