2009-12-03 Ewing Mayor Defends Application

Ewing mayor defends application for $75K grant Thursday, December 3, 2009

By JOAN GALLER Staff Writer EWING — Was Mayor Jack Ball acting illegally when he unilaterally applied for a $75,000 federal transportation grant last month to fund a “build-out” analysis of future economic development’s impact the township’s schools? Yes, say Democrats on the Township Council, who blasted the Republican mayor for acting without council input or consent. Specific details about the grant — the full amount, funding source and matching costs — were sketchy when the partisan brouhaha erupted at last week’s council meeting. But Ball this week laid out his grant proposal on the table while continuing to defend his actions, declaring he acted expeditiously “for the good of the township” and within his administrative rights in filing the grant application by the Nov. 20 deadline. “I have checked with our township attorney, Michael Hartsough about the legality question and was told that I, through my administration, was within my rights to apply for this grant without consulting the council,” Ball said. The council must decide to accept or reject the grant if it is awarded to Ewing by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, which is the regional administration for the U.S. Department of Transportation grants to support local economic development, the mayor added. “If they (the Democrats) had applied for this money for Ewing and got it, they’d be crowing about it,” Ball said The thorny question of cost to Ewing in the form of matching funds or other costs, such as grant-writing fees, also came up at the council meeting. Ball said yesterday the grant cost $5,000 to prepare, and there is money in township coffers for this service. ETRA Chairman Robert Kull said he saw the preliminary draft of the grant application two or three days before the deadline and said the township can supply “in-kind” professional services to offset or meet its matching-grant obligations. The build-out analysis was recommended for the whole township by the Planning Board prior to its approval of the Olden Avenue Redevelopment Plan put forth by the Ewing Township Redevelopment Agency last summer following extensive hearings and public input, including School Board President Jonathan Savage’s call for the build-out analysis to prepare the school district for future enrollment. If Ewing receives the grant, it would pay for a build-out analysis of potential areas for housing and the impact such development would produce, namely, the number of children entering local schools. This would let the school board know down the line what to expect, but it doesn’t have to be

done right away. Ewing has large tracts suitable for economic development, including the former General Motors and Navy properties off Parkway Avenue.

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