News-pourri

Magnolia Road will be closed to through traffic into 2022, due to the replacement of the Magnolia Road bridge. The replacement of the Magnolia Road bridge will probably not be finished until mid-February. That’s the word from Somerset County engineer Matthew Loper, who sent an update letter to the township that was read at the November 22 Council meeting.

The Township Council, and all other Township boards and commissions, may soon return to in-person meetings. Assuming there isn’t a change in coronavirus guidelines from the state, the Township will return to in-person meetings in January. The Township Council will start the return to somewhat normal with its annual reorganization meeting on January 4, 2022.

Franklin Middle School football coach Blair Wilson, seen here after his team captured the 2019 Middle School Championship, is the pick of many members of the Franklin football community to become the new high school football head coach. Coaches, parents and players showed up en masse at the November 18 Board of Education meeting to lobby for their pick for …

Newly appointed Conerly Road principal David Heras address the school board at the November 18 meeting. The Board of Education appointed one new school principal, and accepted the resignation of another at its November 18 meeting. The Board appointed David Heras as the top educator at Conerly Road School. Heras, who assumes the $128,000-a-year position on January 1, 2022, succeeds …

An artist’s rendering of The Cosmopolitan, the four-storey residential building planned for the former Kmart site in Rutgers Plaza. The three-year speculation of what would replace Big Kmart in Rutgers Plaza may be at an end. Levin Properties of Plainfield, the owner of Rutgers Plaza at John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Easton Avenue, has submitted to the Zoning Board of …

The annual Veterans Day commemoration was held November 11 at Veterans Memorial Park, in the Municipal Complex. The event’s keynote speaker was Franklin Township Police Sgt. Ariel Almora, a former Marine.

The Township Council introduced a state-mandated ordinance involving electric car chargers. An ordinance that would require the installation of electric car charging stations in some new housing developments was introduced at the November 9 Township Council meeting. The ordinance is mandated by the state, Township Manager Robert Vornlocker said.

Township students between the ages of 5 and 11 years can receive their Covid-19 vaccinations beginning November 17 at Franklin Middle School — Hamilton Street Campus. The Somerset County Board of Health is sponsoring the clinic, which is set to be held from 4-7 p.m.

The Zoning Board on November 4 rejected an application that would allow these buses to continue to park in the rear parking lot of JFK Plaza on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. A plan to park 15 school buses in a rear parking lot at JFK Plaza on John F. Kennedy Boulevard was rejected by the Zoning Board of adjustment at …

(Photo: Planning Board) Nine arrays of solar panels, targeted for the NJ Water property on Randolphville Road, were approved by the Planning Board at its November 3 meeting. The arrays will join several other panel arrays erected on the site in 2006, the Board was told.