By Lisa Coryell & Martin Griff
Part of the Pennytown Shopping Center in Hopewell Township on Wednesday, October 15, 2008.
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP — The township this week introduced an ordinance authorizing up to $250,000 to explore further an ambitious proposal to transform the former Pennytown site and surrounding area into a walkable village and community hub.
The township committee voted unanimously to move forward with plans to fund the next steps in the redevelopment process, which include hiring consultants to create ordinances, conduct more specific testing of soils for wastewater disposal, evaluate the water supply and do legal work.
“We need these services done to make an educated decision whether to go ahead with the Marshall’s Corner/Pennytown redevelopment plan,” said Mayor Jim Burd.
On Monday night the Marshall’s Corner-Pennytown Task Force gave the committee its final recommendations for what should be included in the redevelopment of the 105-acre site on Route 31 — a main street suitable for parades, a community center, lots of green space and affordable and market-rate housing intermixed with retail space.
The project would be the first of its kind in the township — a joint effort between the municipality, which owns the 25-acre former Pennytown site, and Kooltronic Inc., which owns an adjacent 80-acre site. One developer would likely be hired to build the project.
The task force told the committee that the professionals who volunteered to serve on the panel had taken the planning as far as they could and moving the project forward was now up to the township.
In another act that affects the Marshall’s Corner area, the committee approved the sale of the Marshall’s Corner School House, which sits just outside the redevelopment area. Under the ordinance adopted on Monday, anyone buying the historic one-room building must abide by a deed restriction that requires the outside of the building to remain historically intact.
Paul Pogorzelski, township administrator, said the township will put together specs for the project, including a minimum bid amount, and solicit bids from the public within the next couple of weeks. The sealed bids will then be opened and the highest bidder will get the property, he said. Interested parties have already contacted the township to say they’re interested in participating in the bidding process, he said.
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