At its June 11 meeting, Council Vice President Linda Geevers announced that she and Councilwoman Kristina Samonte would like residents to come forward and contribute to the planned restoration of the Grover farm house.
“We are proposing to have a ‘community committee,’ and we would like to begin with an organizational meeting within the next two weeks. The committee will be open to everyone — there’s been no applications submitted or decisions made as to who should be on or not,” Geevers said.
Geevers announced that the committee’s initial public meeting will be on #b#Thursday, June 28, from 7 to 9 p.m.#/b# in room A of the West Windsor municipal building.
Samonte said she looks forward to having residents take ownership of the restoration project and “come up with a vision. We are welcoming all participants. If you have an interest in it, we are happy to have you.”
At recent Council meetings residents Marshall Lerner and John Church, who had each been involved in Habitat for Humanity projects, offered their hands as volunteers for the Grover farm. Both men have ties to the West Windsor Republican Club.
Former Republican candidate for West Windsor Town Council Lauren Kohn brought her two daughters to the Council meeting to speak about their volunteer efforts and family bonding through work restoring the Brearly House in Lawrenceville, which was built in 1761. Kohn, who ran on the “Strong Leaders for West Windsor” slate with Bryan Maher and Gary Zohn last fall, spoke about the bonding her family has enjoyed during their clean-up and preservation work at the farm. (See column, page 6.)
Geevers outlined possible roles, including dealing with the construction end, grant writing and fundraising, and other tasks that will need to be managed. She says a timeline of organizing the group, getting input, and putting forward an action plan to Council would probably take all summer. Geevers expects to report back to Council in early to mid-September on the progress at the Grover farm.
“Our recommendations will be non-binding, but everything is going to be on the table — especially regarding the structures that need to be razed or restored. Community members have a lot of passion for the project, and agriculture is our history here in West Windsor. This is our last chance before any of the structures are demolished,” she said.
On June 11 Council also officially canceled bids for the demolition of the Grover house. Business Administrator Robert Hary said such action was required once viable bids had been received but not acted upon within 60 days of their submission. Despite Council not accepting recommendations to demolish the Grover house twice in the past month, Mayor Hsueh supports Geevers and Samonte in their initiative.
“As long as there is no taxpayer money involved, I will be 100 percent behind it. I am eager to see how much people want to donate and contribute — and I’m really happy to hear that we have so many enthusiastic residents in West Windsor willing to step forward,” the mayor said.
