Lawrence Township is awarded $836,000 for Traffic Signal and Road Improvement at Fackler Road and Princeton Pike

Hey Everyone:

I just wanted to share a bit of great news to end this week and enter the Memorial Day Weekend.  We received notice yesterday from Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) that the Township has been awarded $836,000 from the DVRPC FY2020 Competitive CMAQ Program (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) for New Jersey.  Our successful application for this funding relates to the installation of a traffic light and road improvements at Fackler Road and Princeton Pike.  The great part about being awarded this significant amount of money is that we were going to bond (borrow) for the costs associated with making this improvement.  Now, with the grant monies being awarded, that is no longer necessary.  

The area at the intersection of Fackler Road and Princeton Pike has been in need of mitigation for quite some time.  The process involved traffic studies that effectively demonstrated a need for a traffic signal, engineering planning that shows how it can be accomplished, and some great grant writing.  Thank you to our Municipal Engineer, James Parvesse, and to Brenda Kramer (Engineer, and Grant Writing Czar!) for their work in getting this done. 

Now, we press forward in bring the planning and funding into action.   The residents and commuters to the area sure need it done as soon as possible.  Below is a link to the letter we received:

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:47eeb1ff-d2c4-4403-8313-a042e1d08902

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Peace and love.....Peace and love

Cannabis is legal in New Jersey. So now what do we do?

             On February 22, 2021, Governor Murphy signed into law P.L. 2021, C 16, known as the “New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act” (hereafter, the “Act”).  This Act legalized the recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 years of age or older and established a comprehensive regulatory and licensing scheme for commercial recreational cannabis operations, use, and possession. New Jersey now joins 20 other states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis (aka “marijuana”).  And the vote was not even close:    

·        Statewide the vote was 2,737,682 yes to 1,343,610 no (or 67% to 33%) 

·        Mercer County was 119,390 yes to 48,171 no (or 71% to 29%) 

·        Lawrence Township was  11,993 yes to 4,883 no (or 71% to 29%) 

 So now that it is legal, what next?

             Notably, the Act provides municipalities with authority to permit, regulate and prohibit one or more of the six classes of licensed businesses[1] to operate within their borders.  To exercise the control provided in the Act, a municipality must adopt an ordinance before August 22, 2021, or lose the right to do so for at least five years. Therefore, our governing body has determined that it would be in the best interest of our community to adopt an ordinance to regulate where cannabis-related businesses may operate within our community.

             I can tell you for the past several years, officials from cannabis-related businesses have expressed great interest in our community because of its ideally situated location within the state and access to main highways.  I fully expect that there will be continued interest from all classes of cannabis businesses looking to operate within Lawrence Township now that the Governor has signed it into law.  As a result, taking no action is not an option.  We need to ensure that these businesses (most notably, Cannabis Retailers) are located in zones as far away from residential areas as possible to preserve the quality of life of our residents.   To that end, we have determined that a cannabis retailer or cannabis delivery business seeking to operate within Lawrence Township would be restricted to U.S. Route 1 between Franklin Corner Road and Quakerbridge Road; destination storefronts far removed from residential neighborhoods.[2]  For example, the retail sale of cannabis will not be allowed at the Lawrence Shopping Center or any other storefront in areas within easy walking distance to residential neighborhoods. 

             In addition to the above, the governing body has determined that all other classes of cannabis-related businesses would be required to locate within our “mixed-use (MX)[3],” “Limited Industry (LI)[4],” and the Executive Park Plaza area[5].  These classes of business are low profile operations and would be well situated in these areas.   Moreover, cultivating cannabis would be limited to the districts above but would not be permitted in our agricultural district (as a farming activity).  Simply put, large cannabis farms are not appropriate for our community. 

             The obvious benefit to our municipality for these businesses to operate within our township is increased job opportunities and an influx of commercial ratables.  It will also provide another opportunity for abandoned buildings to become occupied and productive.  In addition to these benefits, the Act permits municipalities to impose a local cannabis tax (2% for Class 1, 2, 5, and 1% for Class 3 businesses). This tax would be an added revenue source to our municipal budget that will work to reduce our overall costs to operate as a municipality.[6]   I am just being real people -- it will help.

             I know that there will not be 100% approval from our residents passing an ordinance that authorizes cannabis-related businesses to operate here.  Some will passionately advocate to prohibit it because they are against the use of marijuana. And, of course, it is their right to do so.   Though 71% of Lawrence residents voted to legalize the use of recreational marijuana for adults, I understand that the vote does not translate to a vote to authorize cannabis-related operations within our community.  However, it does suggest that the majority would support a thoughtfully regulated, permitted use within our community, and that is what we are trying to achieve.   

            There have been no final decisions made. The Mayor and Council Members have cast no votes and will continue to consider it all.  The ordinance will be drafted over the next several days and placed on the agenda for introduction at an upcoming meeting.  Stay tuned.  I will make sure to shine a light on the process so that you are informed.

 

NOTE: Below is a link to the New Jersey State League of Municipalities website to better understand the issue and have some of your questions answered.   It is a great resource and should be reviewed before opinions are expressed.  Facts are critical to a productive community conversation!  

https://www.njlm.org/969/Cannabis-Legalization

 

 

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[1] Class 1: Cannabis Cultivator – facilities involved in growing and cultivating cannabis;  Class 2: Cannabis Manufacturer – facilities involved in the manufacturing, preparation, and packaging of cannabis items;  Class 3: Cannabis Wholesaler – facilities involved in obtaining and selling cannabis items for the later resale by other licensees; Class 4 – Cannabis Distributor – businesses involved in transporting cannabis plants in bulk from one licensed cultivator to another, or cannabis items in bulk from any type of licensed cannabis business to another; Class 5 – Cannabis Retailer – locations at which cannabis items and related supplies are sold to consumers; and Class 6 – Cannabis Delivery – business providing courier services for consumer purchases.

 [2] A limit of not more than 2 retail shops at any given time may operate……is being considered.

 

[3] Mixed Use districts permit manufacturing, laboratories, and/or warehouses.  They include lands along Princess Road, Bakers Basin Road, Lawrence Station Road, and Route 1 just north of Route I-295.

[4] Limited Industry districts permit light industrial uses, warehouses, and industrial parks and has access to the Route 1 corridor.  It is located along Quakerbridge Road, Lawrence Station Road, Ohio Avenue and Enterprise Avenue in the southern part of the Township and includes existing industrial uses.

 [5] Executive Park Plaza Area is located between Franklin Corner Road and Route 1-95, west of Princeton Pike.  This area would need to be rezoned to an MX zone.

[6] As much as several hundred thousand dollars.

 

Status Report on the Whitehead Road Roundabout.

Lawrence Nation! (I am trying out a new greeting) Just a little update on the Whitehead Road Roundabout so some of you can meet your negative comment quota for the day!

As you have seen, we installed our temporary digital sign facing southbound traffic five hundred feet before the roundabout with the message to reduce speed and to yield to the left at the roundabout. It will be replaced with a more permanent sign in the near future.

We have also installed temporary reflectors around the perimeter of the roundabout as further notice of its existence at night. They will remain until we install the wind turbine sculptures within the roundabout as a part of our overall streetscape project.

We have ordered solar-powered flashing yield signs that will be prominently positioned (and not blocked by other signs) to provide guidance to motorists at all entries of the roundabout.

We have ordered the commercial property owner on the northbound lane (at Whitehead Rd opposite the Dunkin Donuts) to remove the lawn signs and cut back and remove shrubbery to increase visibility for motorists entering and exiting at Whitehead Rd. (and the owner has agreed to do so immediately).

We will be increasing traffic enforcement efforts in the area. I hope some have noticed the efforts of our police throughout our community to be more visible and proactive for traffic safety. I have and am thankful.

We continue to study other options to increase the safety for all motorists....those that drive within the speed limit, pay attention to the road and signs....and for those that seemingly have a problem doing so!

NOTE: For those that have commented that we should return to the T-Intersection. That is never going to happen because it would be a regressive act that would be financially irresponsible. The cost to Lawrence taxpayers would be....many millions of dollars. There would be no state or federal funding since the project would not be supported by any objective data, and pointing to FB comments wouldn't be enough evidence to compel the State to dedicate infrastructure funding towards such a project. We can make better use of that money to improve our community in other more productive ways.

Also, a return to the T-Intersection would be a return to high-speed crashes with more serious injuries and fatalities.....crashes much different than the majority of ones that have happened so far. The memories of some have faded. Motorists traveling on US Route 1 (no matter where they are) have the mindset of traveling faster rather slower. A return of the T-intersection would be a return to motorist speeding generally and motorists speeding to beat the light that is going to turn red. Que the left hand turn serious car crash. We will not regress back to the time of more traffic congestion, lines at the light, and more serious crashes.....and pay for it with our tax money. That is something I will never support.

Note: I call the Whitehead Road roundabout a roundabout because it is NOT a circle. Roundabouts are not the same as traffic circles. Traffic circles are larger than roundabouts. Circles are designed for high-speed entries, allow lane changes within the circle, are low capacity, and have more high-speed crashes. Some circles (like the Brunswick Circle) require motorists in the circle to yield those entering.....and that's when crashes most often occur. I encourage you to Google these terms for a better understanding of the differences.

Note: No human being...or task force....has the ability to make motorists drive safely, pay attention to the road, obey traffic signs, signals and speed limits. The recent pic posted on FB of the motorist going the wrong way in the roundabout making a straight left turn from Whitehead Road onto Brunswick Ave is NOT evidence of a problem with the roundabout. It is evidence of a problem with the motorist. We can't fix that!

Final Note: Not commenting on FB is killing me at times....but it's also improving my quality of life tremendously! That policy will continue. I will post but will not comment.

Have a great day everyone and be safe out there!!!

Peace and love, Peace and love!