It was known last year as “Bike Without Fear” day, but this year the popular Canal Road event will be called “Canal Road Walk and Roll.”

The Zoning Board had Como Drive residents on its mind Jan. 9 when it approved a proposal to build a 3,935-square-foot church at the street’s intersection with Cedar Grove Lane. The unanimous approval came with a laundry list of restrictions:

The Planning Board on Jan. 8 approved applications for Trap Rock Industries to build a concrete plant, balconies for a Somerset Street housing development and an outdoor storage plan for a Randolph Road water tank manufacturer. Trap Rock got the OK from the board to construct a 2,400-square-foot concrete manufacturing plant on its property off Kingston-Rocky Hill Road in Kingston. …

A plan for a township agricultural heritage center on Jan. 8 crept a little closer to being included in the township’s Master Plan. Two members of the township’s Historical Preservation Advisory Commission – Barbara Lawrence and Andrew Gurian – appeared before the Planning Board to ask that it include their project in the plan.

Township Council members didn’t have much to critique when they were shown the township’s newly redesigned Web site at the Jan. 7 meeting. The council was taken through the site’s new features by Justin Heyman, the township’s Information Technology director.

Stung by criticism that they needlessly waited until the last minute to decide to close schools on Jan. 6 due to concerns over the district’s main bus contractor, district administrators have released more details about what happened during the time leading up to the decision and its aftermath. Schools Superintendent Edward Seto late in the evening of Jan. 5 decided …

Two Somerset men remain incarcerated at the Middlesex County Jail, New Brunswick, on robbery charges stemming from an alleged Jan. 4 home invasion. The two were among three men arrested as they allegedly fled from the scene, police said.

Contracts for goods and services worth $289,723 were approved at the Jan. 7 Township Council meeting. The council approved the $39,918 purchase of a pick-up truck with snow plow from Beyer Brothers Corp. of Fairview. The money comes from the 2013 capital spending plan.

Agreeing that commissioners should appear at a meeting and explain why they feel they need a more than $100 a year raise, the Township Council Jan. 7 tabled approval for the proposed 2014 salaries for Fire District 3’s five commissioners. The council did, however, approve proposed raises for commissioners in fire districts 1, 2 and 4.

There’s a new portrait hanging among the presidents in the Township Council chambers, that of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.