The Eldridge Park neighborhood is one of the oldest original neighborhoods in Lawrence Township. In the 1930s as the population of the township grew, the Roman Catholic community grew with it.
In 1937, the residents of Trenton came together and built St. Ann’s Church, the first and only Roman Catholic Church in Lawrenceville. Many of those carpenters, masons and brick layers built homes for themselves in Eldridge Park. Many of their descendants still live there. The original building has since been replaced by a beautiful modern church and attached Faith Development Center.
Recently the Church of St. Ann has turned its back on the resident community. To the dismay and objection of the neighborhood, St. Ann’s is planning to install a solar panel canopy on an industrial car port in the rear parking lot of the church. This aesthetically unpleasant structure is to be placed directly in front of neighbors’ homes. Imagine this monstrosity in your front yard? Well, that’s what the homeowners around the church are facing. Not only is its appearance downright hideous, but the convertors that change the DC electric to useable AC electric are known to be noisy, causing additional consternation for the neighbors.
The church is advocating that solar energy is an “inherent benefit,” and we should accept this proposal. It may financially benefit the church and the parishoners that visit the church for one hour a week, however, the homeowners in the neighborhood wil have the pleasure of sitting on their front porches or rear decks and admiring what will essentially be a truck stop, let alone what is sure to be a significant drop in home values.
The residents of Eldridge Park sincerely hope the Church of St. Ann will find some Christian compassion and decide against construction of the unsightly free-standing solar canopy. We hope they will expand the part of the project that places solar panels on the roofs of the seven buildings the church owns.
The residential neighborhood around the church is not zoned for this industrial canopy. The church, the solar company, its engineers, surveyors and attorneys presented their case to the Lawrence Township Zoning Board. Several of the neighbors also spoke to the board in the name of fairness and compassion to ask them not to change the zoning. The board sided with the church.
— Ralph Veltri and Chris Garruba
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