Business Administrator Robert Hary gave updates on projects around town that are nearing completion at the October 3 West Windsor Council meeting.
Seventy-five new parking spaces have been added in the back of Community Park. Only finishing touches such as striping and landscaping work are still needed. Director of Community Development Pat Ward said the location of the new parking provides central access to all playing fields.
While insufficient parking has long been an issue at Community Park, a prominent aspect that went into its planning was storm water management. The lot will be the first one in West Windsor to be built from porous bituminous asphalt. This will give the new lot a slightly different look from traditional blacktop while holding runoff under the surface.
“One of our biggest challenges is not adding impervious surfaces. For the Alexander S-curve we added cisterns under the roadway to prevent storm water runoff. But for the sidewalks we put in along Penn Lyle Road we used the asphalt, and we’ll continue to use sustainable materials for capital projects,” Ward said.
At Duck Pond Park the area has been seeded and graded. Hary said the next step is building more active recreation spaces for public use, including tennis courts, basketball courts, and a children’s playground. There are no designs, site plans, or cost estimates yet, but Ward said the township has some money left over from previous grants that could be allocated for construction costs.
Bicyclists and pedestrians will be able get to Mercer County Lake in a safer fashion as the South Post Road bikeway creates a bike lane stretching from Village Road down to Conover Road.
Ward says that heavy traffic along South Post Road has created the need for a designated lane for pedestrians and bikers. The path will end at Conover Road because, she says, there is minimal traffic at that location and people can easily walk or bike down to the lake.
Since the area is county property, Ward said it was generous of the county to work with West Windsor and its residents on establishing that.
In other action at the October 3 Council meeting, the township announced it will submit grant applications to the state DOT for three projects:
Under “Safe Streets to Transit” the township is seeking $200,000 out of an estimated cost of $230,000 for the Dinky Line Trail extension project.
Under “Roadway Infrastructure Projects” the township is seeking $375,000 out of an estimated $415,000 for the New Village Road resurfacing project.
Under “Bikeways Projects” the township is seeking $145,000, the equivalent of the projected cost for new bike lanes along Edinburg Road.
Council member Linda Geevers asked why the full amount was not requested, and Business Administrator Robert Hary replied that all the grant applications were for the maximum amounts permitted by the DOT.
Hary added that the monetary differences for each project were calculated into the town budget under capital.
In other actions, the township waived the municipal portion of PSE&G’s property taxes, $5485.04, as part of the 50-year agreement to use part of their land for a bicycle, hiking and jogging path.
Council authorized Mayor Hsueh and Town Clerk Sharon Young to execute an agreement with the Metro Employee Assistance Service (MEAS) of Trenton, which serves as the township’s employee assistance program, for a one year period ending September 30, 2012. The total amount rendered was $3,600.
The township confirmed an amended agreement with the law firm of Secare, Ryan & Hensel for a sum of $7,500 for fees regarding Councilman’s Morgan’s lawsuits against the mayor.
Council authorized the purchase of three new 2011 Ford Crown Victoria Interceptor police cars through state contract. The total cost of the three cars, which will come equipped with police lights, sirens, law enforcement technology and specifications, was $84,000.
Hary said current turnover in the police fleet was on schedule as the township traded in three of its Crown Victoria police cars, all of which have over or close to 100,000 miles on them. Hary said one of cars was over 10 years old. The trade-in total for West Windsor’s three police cars was $4,000.
Hary said that the decision to buy was made because Crown Victorias are being phased out. “It was our last shot at Crown Vics, and the next police vehicles available will be either Tauruses or Dodge Chargers,” Hary said.
Ford’s new offering for police vehicles will be the 2012 Interceptor, a police-specific model based on the performance-tuned Taurus SHO.
