What’s the impact on our schools?

There’s none.  The PILOT does not take money away from the schools, not one penny.

As Dr. Smith’s presentation outlined in a Township Committee meeting, the School District will still raise the monies they need; they are indifferent to where this money comes from.

There are currently over 600 open seats in HVRSD schools due to changing demographics and declining enrollments, so with the minimal number of school children generated by the Zaitz project, we expect that these children can be accommodated within the District with little or no additional School costs.

Additionally, Hopewell Township residents will save money as the School tax obligation is more fairly redistributed through this PILOT and The Boroughs pay their fair share. This agreement will help end the higher taxation of Township residents vs. the Boroughs.

As it stands, Hopewell Township currently pays 34% more per enrolled student in Hopewell Valley Schools than the Boroughs ($22,269 vs. $16,674).  If we had gone a conventional path with this project, Township residents would have paid an even higher share of school taxes, even if there were no additional school costs.

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1. What is an intervenor?
2. What if The Township didn’t enter the litigation?
3. Why did Hopewell Township agree to a negotiated settlement on Affordable Housing?
4. Why do we have to have more housing? We have enough!
5. Who exactly qualifies for Affordable Housing?
6. I heard that there are going to be a lot of market rate houses too. Why?
7. I don’t object to the 653 Affordable Housing units we need to build, but why didn’t Hopewell Township move forward with 100% Affordable Housing across the Township?
8. Why do we need affordable housing? There are plenty of houses in town that haven’t sold.
9. I heard that it’s just going to be house after house after house. Not that there is anything wrong with housing developments, but shouldn’t it be walkable and maybe some ratables?
10. How soon is this going to happen?
11. Do our taxes have to pay for this?
12. Our schools are already filled up! Are we going to have to build a new school, too?
13. Where will the developments be?
14. Why do you have to build in the southern tier? It’s not fair! We have all the development!
15. I am concerned about how all this new development will impact traffic in Hopewell Township. Why wasn’t this considered upfront?
16. Why do we have to build on the field on the west side of Scotch Road?
17. Why did land have to be classified as a Redevelopment Zone?
18. What if Pennytown had been built? Would we still be getting all of this?
19. If we hadn’t spent the Affordable Trust Fund money on Pennytown, couldn’t we could have paid for all of the affordable housing now required without market rates?
20. What about sewers? I live on Pennington-Washington Crossing Road and my septic system is failing. I thought we were promised no high-density housing near us. What is going to be done to help us?
21. I am concerned that bringing more Affordable Housing to Hopewell Township is going to negatively impact our community and bring down property values.
22. How was the public involved in this process? Is this all a done deal?
23. Questions have been raised recently regarding the PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) agreement for the Zaitz Tract behind the Shop Rite. First, is the Zaitz PILOT a good deal for Hopewell Twp taxpayers?
24. Will Hopewell Township taxes go up because of this PILOT?
25. What’s the impact on our schools?