BENCIVENGO OFFERS PLAN FOR TRANSIT VILLAGE

Republican mayoral candidate John Bencivengo today offered a plan to revive the Transit Village concept. “I am joining the Council in their efforts to save the transit village and recommend that they establish a open forum made up of representatives from various affected groups from Hamilton to meet and create a plan that can be presented to the people of Hamilton in a series of public meetings,� Bencivengo offered. “My business and government experience suggests that if this type of process had been done from the beginning, this project would be well on its way,� he continued. “The present mayor should have been more forthright in putting together an acceptable plan of action for the area around the train station. He should have allowed all of the interested parties to have a voice in the planning to reach a plan that would be workable for the entire area. Any final plan for the area should balance the needs of the private sector with the quality of life of our citizens. At a minimum, an economic impact study and a traffic study should be completed before allowing a developer to forge a plan and then impose it on the citizens of our great town,� Bencivengo added.

Bencivengo continued, “It is now incumbent upon us to forge a partnership between the citizens of Hamilton, the municipal government, and NJ Transit to make the most out of what is now a less then desirable situation. Representatives from the municipal administration, especially the planning dept, as well as the council, police, fire, and the board of education should all be included. We should also include the county government, planning board, and citizen representatives from all areas of Hamilton including organized labor, the business community, real estate professionals, traffic and professional engineers and architects. They should meet and develop a plan of action to determine what would work best around and near the train station without ignoring what has already been approved,� he said. “Since there are 680 housing units already approved in the area, those residents should have a way to use the Transit Village without getting in their cars and driving there. This could lessen or even eliminate the need for additional housing units on the site. Once there is consensus for the plan, a series of meetings could be held throughout the town to present the plan and gain further input from the people of Hamilton. Only then would the plan be presented for actual approval,� Bencivengo added.