Dear Neighbors,

I hope your summer is off to a great start and that you had an enjoyable holiday weekend.  There are several items of interest, so please take a few minutes to catch up on events.

Sewer Coming to Part of Stirling Chase:  The owners of SANCOA won a court decision to receive a public sewer hook up to their site located on the corner of Stacy Haines and Ark Roads.  The township fought unsuccessfully to prevent the sewer line because the path of the sewer line would run through Stirling Chase.  Under NJ law, any home along the path of the sewer line is required to immediately hook up to the public sewage at their own expense even if they have a fully functional septic tank.   Normally, a homeowner is only required to connect to the new sewer line within 90 days.  For the 13 homes affected in Stirling Chase, township was able to negotiate a seven year delay in the requirement for current homeowner to connect.  The seven year delay starts when the sewage line is in place and functional.  Homeowners will be required to hook up sooner under two circumstances:  (1) ownership of the home changes, or (2) the existing septic tank fails and requires repair or replacement.

Farmland Preservation Grant:  Earlier this year, the township applied for a planning incentive grant from the NJ Department of Agriculture to purchase development rights and preserve more open farmland.  The state has awarded Lumberton a matching grant of $6 million over four years.  The township will have to pay 20% of the preservation cost, Burlington County will pay another 20% of the cost, and the state will pick up the remaining 60% of the preservation costs.

Open Space Tax:  The Lumberton Township Committee has decided to place a ballot initiative on the November ballot to extend the dedicated open space tax.  Two of the three cents in the Lumberton's open space tax are set to expire at the end of 2005.   In 2001, the township set up via a ballot initiative a dedicated one cent open space tax.  In 2003, the voters approved increasing the dedicate open space tax to three cents with a provision to expire the tax at the end of 2005.  Under the three cent tax, the average home in Lumberton, assessed at $162,400, pays $48.72 each year dedicated to purchasing open space or purchasing development rights.  The three cent tax provides about $210,000 per year for the township to use to preserve open space.  Since the inception, the Open Space tax has been used to purchase the 7 acre farm adjacent to the municipal building and to pay 20% of the cost to purchase the development rights on a 196 acre farm on Newbolds Corner Road on the border with Southampton.

Proponents of the dedicated open space tax say the dedicated funds are needed for the township to be able to fully utilize the grants that Lumberton has acquired for farmland and open space preservation.  Lumberton has an up to 80% matching grant for farmland preservation and a 75% matching Green Acres grant to purchase open space for recreation.  Over a five year period of time, it is less expensive for current taxpayers to preserve open space than to build more classrooms  to accommodate more students from additional new homes.

If the initiative passes, the local Open Space tax will remain unchanged.  If it is not approved, the Open Space tax will revert from an average $48.72 per house to $16.24 per house.

Re-Assessment Inspections Have Started:  The township has started performing inspections on homes in the Village, Main Street, and Sunnybrook area.  The inspectors will start working on assessments in Hollybrook and part of Bobby's Run in July.  The inspections are scheduled to run through the Spring of 2006.   The table below is the tentative schedule for inspections.  This schedule is subject to delays and changes.

The re-assessment will take effect August 1, 2007.  For more information of the re-assessment, you can visit the township's web site at www.lumbertontwp.com.  

Bobby's Run Traffic Calming:  The NJ Department of Transportation has completed the preliminary phase of their traffic calming study on Bobby's Run Boulevard and around the Bobby's Run School complex.  The study team will present their findings and the various traffic calming options and techniques at an Open Forum.  The Open Forum will be held at the Lumberton Municipal Complex on Monday, August 17th from 4:00-7:00 PM.  The Open Forum will enable residents to view pictures and displays of the various traffic calming techniques available and discuss them with the study team.   The study team will incorporate the input from the community that they receive during the Open Forum into their final report and discussions with the Township Committee.

Property Tax Bills Will Be Late:  Since the State of New Jersey did not approve the state budget until late July, the various components of our property tax bills were certified late.  This will likely cause a delay in the mailing of property tax bills.  Taxpayers will have up to 25 days after the tax bills are mailed to pay their third quarter property tax bills without penalty.  Normally, the third quarter tax bill is due on August 1st with a penalty for payment after the August 10th.

Super Wal-Mart Saga Drags On:   The June 29th Land Use Board meeting to hear the Wal-Mart case was canceled at the request of Wal-Mart.   A new hearing date has not been scheduled. 

New Features:  A couple months ago, I added two new features to the Lumberton E-News site - a Free Online Classified Ad section and a Quick Poll.  I am happy to report a few items have been sold on the classifieds, and the poll questions have received quite a bit of traffic.  You can check out these features by visiting the site at www.LumbertonEnews.com. 

As always, I hope you enjoyed this issue, and I appreciate your support.  Please continue to share it with your friends and neighbors.  

New Features!

Online Poll

Free Classified Ads

visit

LumbertonEnews.com

to learn more.