At Monday’s meeting, Moorestown Township council discussed their nearly $1 million grant being used to overhaul Lenola and their recent hiring of a communications firm.
At Moorestown Township Council’s meeting on Monday, June 26, the talk of the night was the nearly $1 million state Department of Transportation grant the township received to refurbish the Lenola Town Center’s Camden Avenue corridor.
“The grant will pay for demolition, design, earthwork, some temporary traffic control, new bike lanes, street signs — everything we have designed as a committee,” Mayor Manuel Delgado said.
Delgado said the grant marked a “huge achievement” for Moorestown.
Jamie Brown, chair of the the Lenola Advisory Commission, said this project has been years in the making. She said her grandfather served on a “West End” taskforce more than 20 years ago with plans to revitalize the Camden Avenue corridor that never went anywhere.
“I don’t think it’s a downtrodden area; I think it’s been neglected,” Boren said. “But, I think it’s been neglected because people have kind of let it become complacent and let it go, and I think that’s changed.”
Davis Hess of the Lenola Ad Hoc Committee said the committee facilitated ideas about beautifying Moorestown that have been kicked around for decades.
“This is a gateway to Moorestown, so when you come in from Maple Shade, your first impression of Moorestown is right there,” Hess said.
Council member Victoria Napolitano said overhauling Lenola has been a project on her radar since before she was on council. Then, when she was campaigning during her first term, residents would tell her again and again that something needed to be done about the area.
Napolitano said the community’s input on the project has been invaluable thus far, and she wants residents to remain involved as they move forward with the project. She said the Lenola Ad Hoc Committee will hold public meetings to receive residents’ feedback.
“This is sort of the thing that we’ve been building toward all of this time that I really hope is going to lead to a sort of reenergizing of this business district and that area of our community, and I just want to thank everyone for their support,” Napolitano said.
In other news:
Council also provided updates regarding the township’s hiring of a communications firm.
Township manager Thomas Merchel said the township’s goal is to communicate information in a digestible way. He said while the engineers’ reports on the town’s water mains are all a matter of public record, that information is often too complex for public consumption.
“My point is engineers don’t communicate complicated issues well,” Merchel said.
Delgado added that every department within the township does its own messaging, and the firm could provide consistency.
Council member Michael Locatell said the goal is simple: to get factual information out to the public.
“Everything we do is in the light of day,” Locatell said.
• The next Township Council meeting will be held on Monday, July 10 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.
