Dear Neighbors,
This issue has a mix of information.
Some good news on a great deal for Lumberton
to expand our recreation facilities and
potential improvement to the appearance of one
section along Main Street. However, there
is some very disturbing news on graffiti and
gang related violence. This issue also
includes some new items including a pending
sewage plan expansion and updates on the
school elections and the Rancocas Valley
School Budget.
Graffiti:
On the morning of April 30th, Lumberton woke
up to a trail of graffiti along Bobby's Run
Boulevard from the Middle School, past the
drainage basin on Tynemouth Drive, Freeman
Park to the vacant A-1 Pallet building on Main
Street and the Village Green. Numerous
buildings, signs including the new Freeman
Park sign, and utility boxes were marked up
with what appears to be gang symbols. The
municipal government and school district have
cleaned up most but not all of the graffiti on
public property and notified all private
property owners of the damage.
Hainesport and some other towns were also hit
with the same graffiti. The Lumberton Police
Department is actively pursuing leads to
identify the perpetrators. The
Chief of Police characterize this activity as
"tagging" and made a point to note
that not all the graffiti is gang related
activity.
Gang
Activity: At the May 15th Township
Committee meeting, about 40 members of the
community came to express concerns over an
alleged gang related incident at the Middle
School dance on Friday, May 12th, other
threats made to children in the schools and
other suspicious activity in their
neighborhood. The parents expressed
their concerns about the safety of their
children in the schools and their frustration
with the difference in the information they
receive from their children and from the
school. Many of the residents urged the
Township Committee to do more to protect the
community in the schools and neighborhoods.
The Township Committee agreed that this
activity is unacceptable and stated that it
would form a task force with the School Board,
Police Department and members of the community
to work to ensure or schools and neighborhoods
are safe from gang related activity.
On May 16th, a
Lumberton Middle School student was reported
to have had a knife held to his neck and
received a small cut that was treated with a
band aid. Another student was arrested,
charged assault and possession of an illegal
weapon. The suspect is being held at the
county juvenile detention center.
Better Than
Free Dirt: Earlier this month, the
township signed an agreement with the Medford
Lakes Colony to take approximately 75,000
cubic yards of silt from Medford Lakes.
The soil has been tested for contaminants and
suitability to grow grass. The Medford
Lakes Colony will also pay Lumberton $70,000
to defray some of the cost to prepare the land
adjacent to municipal center and spread the
dirt for five general purpose fields, a
sledding hill and a BMX bike track. The
dirt will start arriving in May with
approximately 60 truckloads per day through
October. The total value of the dirt is
estimated at over $200,000.
Recreation Commission: On April
17th, the Township Committee approved an
ordinance creating a Recreation Commission.
The Township Committee states that by forming
a Recreation Commission, the recreation
community will be freed of many of the state's
restrictive budgeting and finance rules.
This will enable recreation to run more like a
private organization, raise more money from
sponsorships and respond quicker to the
recreation needs of the community.
Gazebo
Parking Lot: The Township is in
discussion with a developer who purchased the
lot adjacent to the township's parking lot on
the corner of Main Street and Landing Street.
The Township is negotiating to get the
developer to make improvements to the parking
lot including paving the lot as condition for
use of some of the parking spots. The
project is being done under a re-development
agreement that allows the township to place
more conditions on developers and insist on
additional improvements above the existing
zoning laws and building code. The developer
seeks to build a small professional office
building with a historic facade. The
building plan was approved by the Historic
Architectural Review Committee (HARC) and the
Land Use Board. However, the Land Use
Board's approval is conditioned on the
Township Committee reaching a redevelopment
agreement with the developer. The
negotiations of the re-development agreement
between the township and the developer are
on-going.
Sewage Plant
Expansion into Lumberton: The Mount
Holly Municipal Utility Authority (MHMUA) has
submitted a plan to expand its sewage
processing facility and locate the expansion
on a four acre parcel of land in Lumberton on
the North side of Route 38. The Township
Committee sent a letter to the MHMUA strongly
opposing the expansion because of the close
proximity to approximately 40 homes on
Lexington and Richmond Avenues. As a
courtesy, the MUA will present their site plan
the Land Development Board in June.
However, public utilities are almost
always granted approval if not by the local
Land Development Board then by the courts
because the courts have consistently ruled
that "their public good out ways any
public detriment."
School Board
Elections: The school board
elections took place on April 17th. Dean
Hammond, Andy Churney, and Mario Tommasi were
elected to three year terms on the Lumberton
Board of Education. Betty Cella and Ed
Bladt who both ran unopposed were re-elected
to a two year unexpired term on the Lumberton
Board of Education and a full three year term
on the Rancocas Valley School Board
respectively.
The Lumberton Board of Education's 2006/7
budget passed, but the Rancocas Valley
Regional High School budget did not.
Rancocas
Valley Regional High School Budget:
Since the Rancocas Valley school budget was
rejected by the voters, the budget was sent to
the municipal governments of all five sending
districts. To lower the budget, the five
sending district Township Committees have to
agree on reductions to specific line items in
the budget that they "recommend"
reducing. Once (or if) there is
agreement on reductions, the school board has
the opportunity to appeal the reductions to
the State Commission of Education who
typically re-instates almost all of the
original budget prepared by the board even
though it was rejected by the voters. If
the five sending districts do not agree on
specific cuts, the Commissioner of Education
typically approves the original budget.
Earlier this
month, representatives from all five sending
municipalities and the Rancocas Valley Board
of Education met to review the Rancocas Valley
budget. They reached an agreement to
reduce the Rancocas Valley budget by $285,000,
and the Rancocas Valley Board of Education
agreed to not appeal the decision to the
state. For Lumberton, this
translates in a regional high school tax
increase of 7.39 cents per $100 of assessed
value rather than an 8.5 cent increase. For a
home assessed at the township average of
$166,500, this is an increase of $123.38 per
year rather than $141.53 per year. The
revised budget must be formally approved by
the municipal governments of all five sending
districts and the Rancocas Valley Board of
Education before the state imposed deadline of
May 19th. The Lumberton Township
Committee approved the budget on May 15th.
Community
Calendar: Here are some upcoming
events in town:
- Memorial
Day Parade: The Annual Memorial
Day Parade will be held on Memorial Day,
Monday, May 29th. The parade starts at
1:00 PM. The parade runs down Main
Street starting at Bella Road and ending
at the Village Green.
- Community
Yard Sale:
The Lumberton Historical Society's annual
Community Yard Sale will be held on
Saturday, June 3rd from 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM
at the Village Green.
- Pride in
Lumberton Day: The
township's recycling department is
sponsoring, "Pride In Lumberton
Day" for June 3rd. The goal of
the event is to help clean up litter
around town. The event starts at
8:00 AM at the municipal building and runs
until 12:00 PM. Volunteers receive a
free t-shirt and refreshments. To
volunteer or learn more, contact the
Recycling Department at 267-3217 x 3113 or
ESnow@LumbertonTwp.com.
- GLBA
Charity Golf Outing: The Greater
Lumberton Business Association will be
holding its 2006 Charity Golf Outing at
the Golden Pheasant on June 5th. Some tee
and sponsor spots are still available. For
more information, visit www.LumbertonTwp.com/GLBA
or call Jill Ross at (856) 231-4841 for
more information.
- Lumberton
Fire Department's 100th Anniversary:
The Lumberton Township Fire Department
will celebrate it's 100th Anniversary on
June 10th at the Fire Department building
on Main Street. The Fire Depart will
hold an Open House from 10:00 AM - 12:00
PM welcoming all residents to come out to
meet the fire company, show off the
equipment to the kids, and dedicate a
plaque commemorating the Department's
100th year of service to the community.
- Air
Victory Museum: The Air
Victory Museum will be hosting a Living
History Exhibit on Saturday, June 17th
from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM at their site on
Stacey Haines Road. The exhibit will
have re-enactments of military encampments
from World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for
seniors, and $3 for kids. For more
information, visit. www.AirVictoryMuseum.org.
- Farm
Fair: The
Burlington County Farm Fair is coming back
to Lumberton again this year. The
dates are set for July 19th-22nd.
The parking arrangements are still to be
determined.
Recreation
Programs Still Open: Registrations
are still open for the following recreation
programs.
- Summer
Recreation
- Flag
Football
- Golf
- Tennis for
youth and adults - Instructional
- Fall Outdoor
Soccer
The Recreation
Department has also added some new programs
including:
- Boating
Safety
- Canoe Trip
- Ponyshare
Camp
- A Basketball
Camp
- Kid's
Computer Fun
Please visit
the Township's web site, www.lumbertontwp.com/recreation,
or contact the recreation department at recreation@lumbertontwp.com
or 276-3217 x3150 for more information on
these and other programs.
As always, I
hope you enjoyed this issue, and I appreciate
your support. Please continue to use the
new features on the site - Community
Calendar, Report
a Street Light Out, Online
Poll and Online
Classified Ads.
