Township Council

Another six state Cannabis Regulatory Commission applications for potential businesses in the township received resolutions of support at the January 24 Township Council meeting. Four of the applications will be for retail establishments while two will be for either cultivator, manufacturer, wholesaler or distributor licenses. The Council’s resolutions attest that the applicants meet the criteria for cannabis-related businesses set by …

Deputy Mayor Ram Anbarasan is given the Oath of Office by Shanel Robinson, the Somerset County Board of Commissioners Director and a former Township Councilwoman. The ceremony was delayed by several weeks, but Deputy Mayor Ram Anbarasan was finally sworn in at the January 24 Township Council meeting. Anbarasan was out of the country during the January 3 reorganization meeting …

Township Councilman Carl Wright objecting to an appointment to the Zoning Board of Adjustment at the January 2 Council meeting. A one-year appointment to the Zoning Board of Adjustment of a vocal warehouse critic caused a brief dust-up at the January 2 Township Council reorganization meeting. The disagreement between Mayor Phil Kramer and Township Councilman Carl Wright (D-Ward 4) had …

Ordinances increasing the amount some developers must pay into the township’s Tree Fund, and creating a flat late fee for dog licenses were introduced at the December 13 Township Council meeting. Developers who cannot meet township requirements for tree replacement when a development results in tree clearing must pay $300 per tree that they cannot replace to the Tree Fund, …

Mark Healey, the township’s Principal Planner, talks about the Master Plan during a special Town Hall meeting December 12 in the Council Chamber. Dozens of township residents showed up to a sometimes contentious December 12 town hall meeting on the process behind creating a Master Plan. The residents came armed with questions, most of them about the meeting’s topic. But …

Update: The Township Council introduced the ordinance as expected at its December 13 meeting. Warehouses would be removed as a permitted conditional use in Franklin’s Business and Industrial Zone under a proposed ordinance set to be introduced at the December 13 Township Council meeting. If it is enacted, the proposed ordinance would effectively ban all new warehouse development in the …

Township Councilman James Vassanella speaks about the former K Mart property during the November 10 Township Council meeting. The topic of what’s to be done with the former K Mart building in Rutgers Plaza generated some spirited discussion at the November 10 Township Council meeting. The topic was broached by several members of the Franklin Township Chamber of Commerce, who …

Canal Walk resident Kiki Anastasakos reads her group’s wish-list to the Township Council. Canal Walk residents opposed to what they call warehouse sprawl in the township presented the Township Council on November 10 with a “wish-list” of actions they say would protect residents from the ill effects of warehouses. The group, calling itself the Citizens Warehouse Action Group, came together …

Contracts worth more than $430,000 were approved October 11 by the Township Council. The largest of the two, for $363,746.70, was for lighting for a Franklin Township Little League field at the DeKalb Avenue baseball complex. The baseball contract was awarded to Helias Construction of Cedar Park, Texas. The contract was issued through the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey …

Ordinances creating a mid-block crosswalk and banning parking on one side of a township road saw Township Council action at the October 11 meeting. The Council approved on second reading an ordinance that creates a mid-block crosswalk on Rutgers Boulevard, near Schoolhouse Road. The Council also introduced on first reading an ordinance banning parking on the south side of Memorial …