News-pourri

TALKING TRAFFIC – Karl Pehnke, the Levin Properties’ traffic engineer, testifies at the August 1 Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing. The owner of the Rutgers Plaza shopping center is studying whether a traffic light at the plaza’s John F. Kennedy Boulevard entrance would help mitigate traffic that might be generated by a planned 200-unit apartment building on the site. Levin …

Four candidates – including three incumbents – have filed for the November 5 Board of Education election. Incumbents Laurie Merris, Sami Shaban and Dr. Dennis Hopkins, Jr. are running as a slate under the heading, “Vote All 3.” Newcomer Nicolas DiMeglio, longtime head of the Franklin PTSO and Project Graduation, and the president of the Franklin Township Chamber of Commerce, …

EXPLAINING THE RESULTS – Dan Loughran, the school district’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, discusses the results of two assessments taken by Franklin students this past school year. The percentage of Franklin High School juniors with disabilities, and those with special needs, who are considered “graduation-ready” in three academic subjects increased from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, the …

ARTIST’S RENDERING – This 18-unit apartment building is planned for several lots located across Hamilton Street from Sophie’s Bistro. Autumn leaves will bring yet another applications for a Hamilton Street-based apartment building to the Planning Board. The Board on October 6 is scheduled to hear the application of Hamilton Street Management, which wants to build a three-story mixed-use building at …

Contracts for nearly $700,000 in goods and services were awarded July 9 by the Township Council. The Council approved five contracts totaling $696,588.10. Nine companies were awarded contracts valued up to $500,000 for surveying services. The companies are Carroll Engineering and Van Cleef Engineering Associates, both of Hillsborough; Boswell Engineering of South Hackensack; Colliers Engineering & Design of Holmdel; CME …

More than $3 million in road reconstruction contracts were approved July 9 by the Township Council. The five contracts total $3,248,933.94. DeSantis Construction of Somerset received two contracts, one worth $761,188.59 for the resurfacing of Cornelius Way, and the second worth $662,244.48 for the resurfacing of the Mosher Road area. Z Brothers Concrete Contractors of Sayreville received a $640,330 contract …

VOLUNTEERS AT WORK – Volunteers at the Food Bank’s warehouse on Churchill Avenue. (Photo: Franklin Food Bank.) The Franklin Food Bank recently received a $15,000 grant from Bank of America. The grant will help the Franklin Food Bank further its mission of serving neighbors in need, while improving economic mobility in greater Somerset County. Between 2022 and 2023, the Franklin …

LIBRARY ACCIDENT – The aftermath of a July 9 incident at the Franklin Township Library’s Main Branch. (Reporter photo.) One person was injured on July 9 when some shelving collapsed at the Franklin Township Library’s main branch on DeMott Lane. The person, who was not identified, was treated by EMTs but declined to be taken to a hospital, said January …

TRUSTEE TESTIFIES – Severina Edward, a church Trustee, told the Planning Board the Church felt it needed the larger building to accommodate future growth. A Booker Street congregation that has been trying to get a new church approved for more than seven years will have to wait a little bit longer. The Planning Board on July 10 made it clear …

ON THE HOT SEAT – Members of the Fire District 3 Board of Commissioners at the July 9 Commission meeting. Representatives of the east Franklin Volunteer Fire Department and the Fire District 3 Commissioners will meet before the end of July to try to iron out a fire service contract that has been in dispute for months. That was the …