With the New Year occurring this week, 2021 is quickly coming to a close.
The coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 news dominated the headlines in 2021, but here is the year in review of other stories covered in Pennington by the Hopewell Valley News.
Pennington pledges to become carbon neutral in borough operations
The Pennington Council pledged that the borough will become carbon neutral in all operations by 2035. The borough’s environmental commission will guide the township in the process.
The environmental commission is responsible for reporting to the council on an annual basis the amount of carbon released by the borough and the amount of carbon offset (reduction in emissions), assist borough officials in developing strategies to move away from carbon energy sources, as well as using the efforts to become carbon neutral as a means to educate and encourage Pennington’s residents and businesses to become carbon neutral.
Davy becomes Pennington’s new mayor
Former Pennington Councilman James Davy was appointed Pennington’s new mayor following the resignation of former Mayor Joe Lawver.
Davy previously served on Borough Council from 2013-16. He is a former New Jersey commissioner of Human Services and worked as an administrator for Hopewell Township. Davy is currently a distinguished practitioner in residence in the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University–Newark and is the director of the Center for Applied Appreciative Inquiry.
Davy will carry out the two years left on Lawver’s unexpired term after an uncontested race for mayor concluded in the Nov. 2 General Election.
Pennington opts in to allow operations for certain recreational cannabis businesses
Pennington officials had to decide what place recreational cannabis businesses would or would not have in the borough.
Pennington restricted cannabis retailers, medical cannabis dispensaries and cannabis delivery services and reduced the combined total number of licenses for cannabis retailers and medical dispensaries to two.
No more than a combined total of two cannabis retailers and medical dispensaries will be permitted in the business highway zone and the office business zone. One location in the two zones will have to be reserved for a medical cannabis dispensary.
Cannabis retailers, delivery services and medical cannabis dispensaries are conditional uses in the business highway zone and the office business zone. Cannabis delivery services are a also a conditional use in the mixed use zone.
Prohibited uses in any zone of the borough include cannabis cultivators, cannabis manufacturers, cannabis wholesalers and cannabis distributors, medical cannabis cultivators, medical cannabis manufacturers and clinical registrants. In the Town Center Zone, cannabis retailers and medical cannabis dispensaries are also prohibited.
Pennington Council approves the implementation of automated trash collection
The Pennington Council adopted an ordinance for automated trash collection, which uses an automated garbage truck and standardized trash containers.
Requiring property owners to use containers supplied by the borough with standard size and features gives a uniformed appearance. The borough provides one 95-gallon trash container without charge and an annual fee would be applied for an additional identical container.
No more than one additional trash container will be provided for a fee to a property owner in the borough.
