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Lane to Lakehurst Road. Currently, one can make a left turn onto Lakehurst Road from Rancocas Lane.

But Rancocas Lane is actually currently privately owned as an access road to Belaire Estates mobile home park, casting some doubt on whether the proposed improvements for Rancocas Lane, which also include adding “choke points,” can be carried out.

Hornickel said the township has made “several overtures” to try to obtain ownership of Rancocas Lane, but so far has been unsuccessful. He even at one point called the owner a “fool” for not accepting the township’s offer, said to be set by council several years ago for $15,000, maintaining that person would no longer be responsible for plowing snow and maintaining the road in the event of a flood, for example, if he gave it up.

Adding bicycle lanes to a fourth main street that runs through the downtown, Juliustown Road, Hornickel maintained, “is really tough,” but the plan notes it is an “option” for part of it.

The Pemberton business administrator recognized that several of the “suggested improvements” are for county roads, which “need county buy-in,” but maintained that “fortunately, either the county engineer or a representative from that office participated in this Health Communities initiative the entire time this (the planning) was happening.”

“So, this is not something that is going to be strange to them,” Hornickel declared.

The Pemberton business administrator, immediately following his presentation to council, pointed out that there was a resolution on the governing body’s July 13 agenda for its consideration authorizing the township to submit a grant application to the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) for the “Transportation Alternatives Set Aside Program” for “bicycle lanes in Browns Mills.”

He noted that council should move the item forward if it is “in favor” of the DVRPC plan.

Before any action was taken, however, council provided for a public hearing on the proposal, which drew “some concerns” from Jack Tompkins, a former GOP councilman who is challenging Democratic Mayor David Patriarca in November.

Part of Tompkins’ concerns stemmed from a recently enacted state law mandating drivers safely pass pedestrians, as well as people on bikes and scooters, requiring drivers to move over one lane when passing, if it safe to do so, or to allow at least 4 feet of space between the car and the person being passed.

Maintaining the required 4 feet of space, Tompkins maintained, in addition to any 5-foot bicycle lanes and reduced lanes of travel, could force motorists to cross into oncoming traffic, or over double yellow lines.

Hornickel, who at the time maintained he was unaware of the regulations in the law Tompkins was referencing, maintained that “if anything,” the bicycle lanes “would help” drivers because they would “have a better idea of what 4 feet looks like.”

“But the roads are already congested and dangerous enough, especially on Clubhouse Road,” declared Tompkins in response. “How many accidents do we have there (where Clubhouse and Pemberton-Browns Mills roads intersect, at the base of the Mirror Lake Bridge)? My concern is – in my limited experience and knowledge, that I feel some of our roads are dangerous already, so this bike lane and state mandate of a 4-foot clearance is going to create an even more dangerous situation than you already have.”

While Hornickel replied that, “If I was driving, I would just slow down until I have a safer opportunity to go around a bike,” Tompkins retorted that “not everybody drives like you and I.”

Tompkins added that “another concern” he has is that under state law, “you cannot cross” the centerlines of the road, “or you will get a ticket,” and maintained that “his luck is there will be a cop right there” if he should have to do it because of a bicyclist.

The Pemberton business administrator, however, maintained that while he “supposes it is theoretically possible” to get a ticket, he is “not sure we have enough officers to ticket everybody who crosses double yellow lines.”

“I can’t engage in legal debate,” said Hornickel, who at one time practiced law. “I, however, imagine an attorney could come to court and say, ‘Look judge, he was trying to safely pass a bicycle when he crossed the double yellow lines, and the judge might be sympathetic.’”

Tompkins, in response, quipped that the local officials sought opinions on the plan and that he was simply giving his, further asserting that they were “proposing something that on paper looks good, but when you look at it in actual practice, there are a couple of laws that might need to be addressed going forward.”

Hornickel pointed out that the plan was “prepared by actual licensed professional planners.”

“This wasn’t something that just – I have confidence that the DVRPC hires very competent people, and does do its homework on what is permitted,” the Pemberton business administrator contended. “They make proposals, these proposals get presented to stakeholders and the stakeholders then like the proposals.

“But to do nothing – the status quo is not much better.”

Pemberton Democratic Councilman Paul Detrick, a retired lawyer, asserted that “if the law, in fact, requires a 4-foot distance between you and a bicyclist, it might be worth it to put a question to the planners involved here of how to make this compatible.” He noted that local officials “really don’t want to be asking our citizens to break the law.”

“I can certainly follow up with them,” Hornickel said.

The Pemberton business administrator, however, reminded council, other officials in the room and the meeting attendees that Pemberton Township is within the Pinelands Commission’s jurisdiction and that, “here in the Pinelands, if we want bike lanes by adding shoulders, you could not do it because Pinelands would give us 5,000 reasons why we couldn’t have them.”

Hornickel also reminded those present that this is “one component” of the “vision” that he and Patriarca have to “connect our neighborhoods through different walking and bike paths,” with this particular plan designed to tie in to the “county rail trail the county wants to develop.”

“We want to have a way for people to get from Browns Mills through Blueberry Manor, down Rancocas Lane, and then be able to connect to the rail trail,” Hornickel said.

All of this also comes as Pemberton Council recently approved redevelopment plans for the Browns Mills Shopping Center and former tract for Rowan College at Burlington County, both parcels on Pemberton-Browns Mills Road, in a bid to spur economic development downtown.

The resolution authorizing Pemberton Township to apply for the NJDOT grant to obtain funding to implement at least parts of the plan was approved through a consent agenda, but as for how quickly this will all come together, the Pemberton business administrator acknowledged, “I would be surprised if we can get the money to fund this – we think we can get money to do some of it, but I doubt it will pay for all of it.”

He later told this newspaper that the county has since commented on the plan, “so the attached will necessarily have to be modified or we won’t receive the necessary critical support for the changes on the county’s roadways.” Pemberton Township, he noted, has until early November to make application for the grant, “so there is time to make changes.”

Pemberton Democratic Councilman Jason Allen, during the July 13 governing body session, asked if the DVRPC “has reached out or can reach out to” groups of bikers in the area, to which Hornickel replied that the initiative has already involved a couple representatives from Browns Mills-based Deborah Heart and Lung Center, including President and CEO Joseph Chirichella, who is “a huge, avid bicyclist.”

“He looked at it and he loved it, and felt, if anything, you could go further down Pemberton-Browns Mills Road, and if that someday we go all the way down the road, we could get bike races out here or at least entice more groups to come out and visit our downtown,” Hornickel said.

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