News-pourri

ENJOY YOUR BOOK! – A TEECS student selects a book he wants from the school’s new book vending machine. Teachers and administrators at a local charter school are betting their students are willing to trade snacks for books. Students and staff at Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School on Pierce Street unveiled their newest acquisition on May 28, a vending machine …

ENGINEER TESTIFIES – Craig Stires, the applicant’s project engineer, talks about the warehouse extension at the Planning Board meeting. More than 64,000 square feet of warehouse space will be added to a Cottontail Lane building through an approval recently given by the township Planning Board. The Board on May 21 approved the plan for the 64,515-square-foot addition to the building, located …

WANTED ANSWERS – John Baptist, a commercial property owner on Hamilton Street, questions the Township Council on May 27 about the Special Improvement District assessment. The first special assessment in 10 years of commercial property owners in the Hamilton Street Special Improvement District was approved May 27 by the Township Council. The total assessment for the year was $34,268, and …

Spectators lined the parade route along DeMott Lane May 26 for the township’s annual Memorial Day Parade. The parade featured classic cars, the Franklin High School Warriors Marching band, Boy and Girl Scout Troops and many others. The parade wound up at the Veterans Memorial Park, in front of the Municipal Building on DeMott, for a short ceremony. The parade’s …

EXPLAINING THE PLAN – Shri Kotdawla, the retail/office project’s engineer, testifies to the Planning Board at its May 21 hearing. A developer wanting to erect a two-building mixed-use office and retail center across from the Somerset Run housing development was told by the Planning Board on May 21 to rethink its plans. The plan, submitted by NPH Real Estate, calls …

SILVER MEDALISTS – SCVTHS Culinary students Alyssa Robinson of Somerset, Francesca Boian-Togyik of Manville, Sharon Castro Benitez of Hillsborough, Michael Dagostino of Bridgewater, Amy Hernandez of Hillsborough, and Delilah Bergman of Hillsborough, left to right, took home a Silver Medal at the NJAC Culinary Cook-off. (Photo: SCVTHS). A Franklin Township resident was part of a team of culinary students from …

Here is the latest on the Township’s road resurfacing projects. Newkirk and Evergreen Resurfacing – Concrete work to begin on or about May 28, weather permitting. Milling and paving will begin when concrete work is completed. Rodgers Ave Area Resurfacing – Milling and paving to begin Mid June on Holly St.  Rodgers Ave – Paved Waldorf St – Paved Hunt …

OUT IN FORCE – Residents – most of whom live in the Somerset Run 55-and-over development – packed the Board of Education’s community room on May 7 for the latest Planning Board hearing on the proposed Onyx warehouse application. Modifications to a plan to build a 91,000-square-foot warehouse at the intersection of New Brunswick and Old New Brunswick roads were …

MAKING HIS CASE – Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States, left, tells the Historic Preservation Advisory Commission why the church needs to sell the Ukrainian Cultural Center and 18 acres on Davidson Avenue. Financial concerns led officials of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States to decide to sell the Ukrainian Cultural Center to …

DENIAL OVERTURNED – Hundreds of residents attended each of the eight Planning Board hearings on the proposed B9 warehouses application. (File photo). In a scathing decision in which he called out what he said was the Planning Board’s “unmitigated hypocrisy,” a state Superior Court judge recently overturned the Board’s denial of a controversial two-warehouse development near the Canal Walk housing …