News-pourri

Applications to install solar panel arrays on and around a private school and to build a large warehouse were approved April 21 by the Planning Board. The application by EZNergy was to install solar panels on the roof and in the parking lot around the Center School on Riverview Drive. The Board was told that in addition to solar panels …

Schools Superintendent John Ravally, pictured, and Assistant Superintendent Dan Loughren wrote a letter to parents April 20 concerning the guilty verdicts in the trial of a White former police officer for the killing of a Black man. (File photo). The school district’s top administrators on April 20 weighed in on the multiple guilty verdicts against a former Minneapolis police offer …

The Zoning Board of Adjustment on April 15 held its fifth hearing on a proposed 21,000-square-foot temple targeted for South Middlebush Road. A lawyer for some opponents to a proposed 21,000-square-foot temple went on the attack at the April 15 Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting, grilling a temple representative on his sect’s practices, and the need for such a large …

An application for a more than 200,000-square-foot warehouse on Schoolhouse Road was approved April 7 by the Planning Board. The building at 17 Schoolhouse Road currently houses the New Jersey Chinese Community Center, and is the former home of the Central Jersey College Prep Charter School. The plan is to demolish the existing 90,000-square-foot structure and construct a 204,772-square-foot warehouse. …

A Schoolhouse Road engineering firm received Planning Board approval April 7 to build an office building on its property. The Board approved a 6,095-square-ffot building that will be situated in front of the existing 6,000-square-foot building. Philip Prisco, the company owner, told the Board that the company’s office is operating out of a Summit location, and he wanted to condense …

Cleanup work continues at the Route 27 site that once held an historic building that township officials say was demolished without proper permits. The owner of Route 27 property located in the Franklin Park Historic District faces $8,000 in fines after they apparently demolished historic buildings without the proper permits. The main building, located at 3011 Route 27, was built …

Township Councilman Ted Chase has decided not to seek re-election, setting the stage for a primary fight among his potential Democratic Party successors. (File photo). The Ward 1 Township Council seat currently held by the retiring Ted Chase is the target of a challenge in the upcoming Township Council primary election. The township Democratic Party has chosen current Board of …

Artist’s rendering of the proposed Hamilton Street apartment building. The Hamilton Street Business District re-imagining continued on April 1, with the approval by the Zoning Board of Adjustment of a three-story, nine-unit apartment building. But unlike other apartment buildings approved in the District, this one will not feature retail space on the first floor. Instead, and in recognition of reality …

Chart compiled by Mayor Phil Kramer shows the beginning of a “third wave” of coronavirus infections in Franklin. The number of township residents testing positive for the coronavirus shows that Franklin is an active part of the “third wave” of virus infections recently declared by state officials. That’s the word from Mayor Phil Kramer, who has been tracking data behind …

A $10,000 Verragio diamond engagement ring is waiting for one lucky couple at Venus Jewelers, Rutgers Plaza, Easton Avenue. The ring is the prize in the store’s “Amazing Ring Race,” planned for May 2. Couples will compete in a hometown version of The Amazing Race, but with a big rock at the proverbial finish line.  Registration is free, but space is limited. …