Also at the latest meeting, council proclaimed the crackdown on impaired driving during holiday season.
At its Nov. 13 meeting, Gloucester Township Council issued a proclamation for the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over 2017 Year End Holiday Crackdown from Friday, Dec. 8, to Monday, Jan. 1.
This is a statewide campaign enacted by the state Department of Law and Public Safety to deter impaired driving, particularly during the holiday season. There were 10,497 reported fatalities related to impaired driving in the United States in 2016, according to Council’s proclamation. Twenty percent of motor vehicle deaths in New Jersey are alcohol-related.
Council also passed a resolution petitioning the state to name the stretch of highway on I-676 from the Walt Whitman Bridge entrance to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge entrance as the official Memorial Highway for the Battleship New Jersey BB-62. The highway feeds into New Jersey from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. It also serves as a feeder from the I-295 and Route 42 exits toward the Philadelphia and Camden waterfronts
Designated the most highly decorated ship in the United States Navy, the vessel, which launched on Dec. 7, 1942, was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard where hundreds of New Jerseyans contributed to its construction. It served in the World War II, the Korean War and the Middle East Conflict.
Running along the Delaware River, I-676 parallels the battleship’s route before its final mooring into Philadelphia from Bremerton in the late 1990s.
In other news:
• Council passed a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of up to $266,660 of a $800,000 bond council adopted in November 2015 for emergency appropriation funding to pay for damages caused by the severe thunderstorm in June 2015. The principal amount of up to $266,660, combined with other available funds, will be used to repay the 2016 notes at maturity.
• Council passed a resolution authorizing and approving the reaffirmation of a PILOT agreement between the township and Franklin Owner LLC, which owns the Franklin Square Village, located on Hildebrand Avenue. The annual PILOT will be retained at 6.28 percent of gross rental income. The agreement is being extended for a period of 20 years from November or until the termination of Franklin Square Village’s contract with the HUD Section 8 project assistance contract.
