Even town governments need to do some special holiday planning. At Plainsboro’s special township committee meeting November 21, Business Administrator Robert O. Sheehan recommended to Mayor Peter Cantu that the committee forego the year-end meeting scheduled for December 28, which falls between the holidays, in favor of a longer session at the next agenda meeting on Wednesday, December 14.
Sheehan said that all preparations could be ready by that time, including municipal appointments after his evaluations of the many requests for proposal (RFPs) the township has sent out. All RFPs must be officially submitted to Township Clerk Carol J. Torres by Monday, December 5, leaving more than a week for Sheehan to sort through them before the committee votes and makes appointments for each position.
Also at the November 21 meeting, Director of Planning and Zoning Lester Varga spoke about anticipating progress on the Schalks Crossing Road railroad bridge, first announced in early 2010 and originally scheduled to start construction in mid-2011.
Amtrak, which owns the rail line spanned by the bridge, has been in negotiations with the NJ Department of Transportation for over 18 months as there were requests for additional construction that would do more than repave the roadway, make repairs to the bridge structure and build a pedestrian/bicyclist pathway — the main goals of the township committee. Varga said the major hurdle in the negotiations is over environmental issues.
“The biggest sticking point remains that if an environmental issue is uncovered during construction, who is going to be liable for it — DOT or Amtrak,” Varga said.
He stated that the federal money set aside for the project — estimated at $8.5 million in 2010 but raised to $11 million from Varga’s latest information — is relatively safe as the state DOT has rolled the project request over year-to-year. The project has been maintained as a line item in the official budget of the New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority which goes before the state legislature every year for approval.
Mayor Cantu asked about the possible timeline to see work start on the bridge and Varga said it remains programmed for 2012, but because of the ongoing halt in negotiations between Amtrak and the state DOT he expects it to “slip away” until 2013.
Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis summed up the basic situation. “The money is secure and it’s in the account, and it’s just not available to spend,” he said.
Varga replied that the state has spent a considerable amount on the design phase and utilities and Plainsboro has kept on top of it. “They needed some right of way from us and they need some additional right of way from Amtrak to finish the design and begin construction,” he said.
Sheehan said that he was in meetings over a year ago on this issue and he has been in contact with Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s office to assist Plainsboro in getting the project moving along.
In other Plainsboro news: The township committee’s annual re-organization meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 3, because New Year’s Day will fall on a Sunday. The committee will officially declare Monday, January 2, as a municipal holiday for all employees. Because the re-organization meeting usually takes place on the first business day of the year it will be on that Tuesday. Committee member Ed Yates suggested that the meeting be moved from its usual time of 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. A brief reception will follow that meeting and residents are invited .
— Resolutions for the release of developer review fees for Alternatives Inc. and Gina and Ronald Wesp are on the agenda for December 14, as are resolutions for the release of performance bond and inspection fees for Princeton Health Care and releasing inspection fees for Bloomberg L.P.
— Deputy Mayor Neil J. Lewis announced that the Plainsboro Rescue Squad held its internal elections. The president of the rescue squad is now Chris Bell and the new duty chief is Brian Gould.
— Township CFO Greg Mayers said he has been trying to get information from the state regarding its 2012 budget. The only answers he has received thus far is “for preliminary planning, just use the same number for state aid as last year,” calling it a safe bet.
— Officials from Eden Autism Services’ new model autism school and national headquarters in the Forrestal Village met with Police Chief Guy Armour on November 18 to review emergency operations plans. Armour told the committee that because his wife is a special education teacher, visiting Eden was “an eye-opener as the school does many good things.”
