HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: Committee wants senior center to stay open a while longer

By Frank Mustac, Contributor
In response to Pennington Borough’s plan to close the senior center building on Reading Avenue by the end of 2017, Hopewell Township’s mayor suggested a meeting be scheduled to discuss keeping that center open for at least a while longer., Township Mayor Kevin Kuchinski asked Township Administrator Paul Pogorzelski to invite representatives from both Pennington and Hopewell boroughs to meet with Hopewell Township officials for a work session at the Hopewell Township municipal building, along with representatives from the Hopewell Valley Senior Advisory Board., The purpose of the work session would be “to explore opportunities to keep the current senior center open, while we work towards our ongoing plan,” Mayor Kuchinski said during the Hopewell Township Committee meeting held March 13., Hopewell Township is proposing that a new senior center be opened in the township, with a preferred location off of Scotch Road, for senior citizens living in the three municipalities., It would be very helpful, Mayor Kuchinski said, for Pennington Mayor Anthony Persichilli, Pennington Deputy Mayor Joseph Lawver and Hopewell Borough Mayor Paul Anzano to hear from seniors in the community., Kuchinski also said the work session could also provide a chance to learn what maintenance and repairs have been performed to the senior center building in Pennington. The township pays $5,000 a year and Mercer County contributes $11,000 for the current senior center, Mayor Kuchinski said., “I do think that we want to provide opportunity for both meals and for programs for our seniors over the coming years, and I think at this point it would be best to have a public session with our partner municipalities,” Kuchinski said., Hopewell Townshnip Committeeman John Hart said that before the proposed work session is held, he would like to receive statistics on how many seniors use the facility weekly, and what improvements have been made at the senior center “in the past couple of years.”, Hart said he would also like to know how many seniors use the center for meals and how many come for other programs., “I would like to know what goes on over there and how many people use it,” Hart said., The information, he said, would be helpful in planning for the new senior center., Committeewoman Vanessa Sandom recommended that representatives from the Hopewell Valley Senior Foundation also attend the proposed work session., “I think they have a great deal of knowledge, as well,” Sandom said., IN OTHER BUSINESS at Monday night’s meeting, the township administrator reported that installation of a new roof on the historic one-room Harts Corner Schoolhouse has been completed., Business owner and professional roofer Michael Wyckoff of Wyckoff Roofing donated the labor to replace the roof on the municipality-owned schoolhouse building., Out of use as a schoolhouse for decades, the Harts Corner Schoolhouse dates to the bygone era when there were 11 one-room school houses in Hopewell Township., During the meeting, the Township Committee also unanimously authorized township staff to apply for New Jersey state grant to make exterior repairs on the historic Mount Rose Distillery, known as the “Whiskey House.”, The brick building is just west of the intersection of Carter Road and Pennington-Rocky Hill Road., Apple whiskey made from locally grown apples was made at the distillery, “a business that thrived in the village of Mount Rose in the second half of the 1800s,” according to the book “Images of America: Hopewell Valley” published in 2000 by authors Jack Seabrook and Lorraine Seabrook., “It’s certainly worthwhile preserving a piece of our history,” Mayor Kuchinski said.