News-pourri

Just about 200 cyclists and walkers showed up at the Franklin Township Senior/Community Center September 17 for the annual Renaissance Cyclists Defeating cancer United charity bike-a-thon. The RCDCU event has been going on for 15 years – with some time off for the Covid pandemic – and has raised more than $31,000 for prostate cancer awareness.

Rendering of two proposed warehouses at Schoolhouse and Mettlers roads. (Graphic: Link Logistics Real Estate). The developer of two proposed warehouses at Schoolhouse and Mettlers roads will have to redesign the project to conform to the township’s Scenic Corridor zoning regulations, township officials said. That’s because Mettlers Road has been designated a Scenic Corridor, a zoning overlay which imposes a …

An artist’s rendering of Cosmopolitan at Somerset Town Center, the building with which Levin Properties is proposing to replace the former K-Mart building. The owner of Rutgers Plaza on Easton Avenue will have an “informal” discussion before the Planning Board to discuss its plan to convert the former K-Mart building into a 200-unit apartment complex. Among the topics of discussion …

More than 1,200 backpacks were distributed to area children through the annual backpack drive run by the office of state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen (D-17). The backpacks were distributed to children throughout the 17th District.

Retail Cannabis Application Sites Another 38 applicants for cannabis businesses were certified as having met Township regulations at the September 14 Township Council meeting. Of that total, 34 of the applications are for retail business licenses and four are for cultivator, manufacturer, wholesaler and distributor licenses.

The township’s new ordinance limiting where warehouses can be built has spawned at least six lawsuits asking for it to be struck down due to the way in which it was created, introduced and adopted. The suits were filed between August 30 and September 2 and name the Township, Planning Board and the Mayor and Council as defendants.

Kyle Kavinski, an engineer retained by the applicant, describes the warehouse project to the Planning Board. A developer’s plan to raze four buildings – including a large office building – on Cottontail Lane and put up two warehouses was approved September 7 by a split Planning Board. The two warehouses, which are being built “on spec,” meaning with no set …

Slightly less than half of all Franklin Township Police Department internal affairs investigations opened in 2021 were sustained, with 40 percent of officers who were found to have violated policy or regulations issued a written reprimand or warning, according to statistics released by the state Attorney General’s Office. In total, 44 percent of the complaints opened in 2021 were sustained, …

Mark Healey, the township’s director of planning, points out various development zones in the township during the Somerset Run Civics Club meeting. Residents of Somerset Run received a primer on the township’s warehouse situation on September 8. The venue was the 55-plus community’s clubhouse, and the setting was a meeting of the Somerset Run Civics Club.

Update: The Board approved the policy and regulation ayt its September 22 meeting. A policy that would provide for the use of hand-held metal detecting wands on township school properties was introduced at the August 25 Board of Education meeting.