OPPOSITION IS HEARD – Mary Paist-Goldman testifies about the B9 Schoolhouse warehouse project’s water management plan while attorney Stuart Lieberman looks on. Opponents of a proposed two-warehouse development at Schoolhouse and Mettlers roads got the chance on July 19 to convince the Planning Board that the application should not be approved. The opponents, the majority of whom are Canal Walk …

REVIEWING PLAN – Members of the township Historic Preservation Advisory Commission review plans related to the proposed McDonald’s restaurant targeted for Rutgers Plaza. It took a few go-’rounds, but the McDonald’s Corp. finally got the needed approval from the township Historic Preservation Advisory Commission July 18 for its new restaurant in Rutgers Plaza on Easton Avenue. The sticking point was …

CDBG GRANTS – Deborah Mitchell, administrator of the Township’s Community Development Block Grant program, discusses this year’s program at the Township Council meeting. An application for more than $348,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant money was approved July 11 by the Township Council. The program, overseen by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, is designed to help …

A member of the Franklin High School Class of 2023 is one of 10 recent graduates awarded scholarships for their work in promoting organ and tissue donation and transplantation. The awards were presented by the Sharing Network Foundation. The scholarships are funded by four funds:

ROAD BUCKLED – Work to replace this section of Canal Road is set to begin on July 17. (Photo: Phil Kramer). Work to fix a 60-foot-long section of Canal Road damaged by the recent rainstorm is set to begin on July 17, Mayor Phil Kramer said. Asphalt buckled on the section north of Coppermine Road, forcing a closure in the …

TAKING THE OATH – FTPD Lt. Brandon Domotor is ceremonially sworn in to his new rank at the July 11 Township Council meeting. Four rookies – one of them a township native – and a seasoned officer were ceremonially sworn in to the Franklin Township Police Department at the July 11 Township Council meeting. Also at the meeting, two newly …

FLORA NON GRATA – The Township Council has introduced an ordinance that would limit future bamboo plantings to those in above-ground bins. (Photo: Shutterstock.) Spurred by resident complaints at the June 13 meeting, the Township Council on July 11 introduced an ordinance that would limit how running bamboo can be planted in Franklin. Under the ordinance, all new plantings of …

07/02/2023 A 34-year-old Newark man was arrested by the New Jersey State Police for an outstanding warrant out of our jurisdiction. The FTPD took custody of the defendant and transported him to Somerset County Jail after processing.

Ailipati Delixiati of Somerset has earned a Master of Science in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Delixiati was among more than 5,300 undergraduate and graduate students to be presented Georgia Tech degrees during the Institute’s 264th Commencement exercises May 5 – 6, 2023, at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Harshika Gelivi of Somerset made the Dean’s List …

PAYING RAPT ATTENTION – More than 200 people crowded into the Board of Education community room at its Route 27 administrative campus July 5 for the third hearing on the proposed B9 warehouses. Testimony on changes to a plan to build more than 200,000 square feet of warehouse space at Mettlers and Schoolhouse roads elicited sometimes aggressive questioning from members …