To LTK: I thank PATCH for providing a space for Hillsborough residents to share their thoughts about these concerns that affect us all! I don't want Hillsborough to become the next Route 22. Cost cutters, Learning express, Pathmark, kmart, Blockbuster, and more have left the town and took with them local jobs and growth.

I would like to know what are our authorities doing to stop this trend. If companies like whole foods and trader Joes are not interested in Hillsborough Plaza what about the space before occupied by Pathmark?

Are our schools and local government buying from our local business ? Are
Hillsborough residents doing it? Or everything is just
Being imported from Walmart in manville or Wegmans in Bridgewatter or whole foods in Princeton ?

Hi Carolina,

The space previously occupied by Pathmark is already under a new lease from Weis. Here's a link to the article on it: http://hillsborough.patch.com/blog_posts/whats-the-weis-hold-up

Carolina, Are our schools and government buying from local businesses you ask? I don’t know, but I do know that State Laws Require the schools and government to buy from ONLY approved vendors, who are “supposed” to always have the lowest prices, but very frankly they don’t and even more frankly, most State and local purchasing by the government is a joke, leaving us the taxpayers‘ picking up the tab for those famous $500.00 hammers.

Wake up and smell the corruption! This is Jersey you know!

I agree. Even during the holiday rush (and Cost Cutters had a lot of good odds & ends for decorating) I was never more than 1 row back from the store. Regarding traffic, I find it easier than K-Mart because of the jug handles and access from Andria.
Those buildings need a face lift. There are rust stains running down from the Cost Cutters sign. I think brick facing would look good. But then, if it's too expensive even to install another rest room, the owner will never spend the money to beautify that space.

hey we have Staples! you'll never run out of hi-lighters or cardstock paper! :)

Don't we have HILLSBOROUGH DINER?
As for bowling??? are you kidding??? manville lanes is now CLOSED!
Toy store? we had Learning express...They closed ( not enough people visited a store where LEARNING and FUN should go hand in hand.

I moved here because of the green grass and lovely farms, but at the time, there was also the convenience factor of being close to grocery stores and gas stations. Shortly after I moved in they were building the Lowes/former Pathmark/Kohl's plaza, too, which made me feel even better about my decision. A decade ago, there weren't as many vacant retail locations as there are now. So I'm not suggesting go forth and develop, necessarily, but it would be nice to regain what this town has lost at the very least....filled shopping plazas with thriving businesses.

I've always gone out of town for dining and recreation, and bought specialty items online. So it's not a huge deal to me if new commercial development does not come to this area. I'm already used to traveling to get what I want and do what I like.

Curt, you make good points. If I wanted to live closer to more shopping and have a down town I could have moved to a town Somerville. But I prefer the open space here and have the convenience of what I need already. However it would be nice to see what has been developed already occupied. But I don't think we need more development. That housing, retail and hotel project off 206 is not in my backyard but I don't want it anyway.

Steve,

This is America and there is absolutely no magic wand the government can wave to stop development here in Hillsborough, or any where else for that matter, and frankly, we should all be more than thankful for that.

That said, development will stop here when it becomes financially undesirable to develop here, which given the state of the economy, and the housing market bust, I betting we‘ve hit that point as of right now!

Curt,
we do have thinks like zoning laws and preserve land to help guide development. But as we know they can be over ridden and eminent domain can be sued.
Not sure why when people talk about development here it has to be a place where they can spend money on something or entertainment. If anything I like to some mid to large companies move here, maybe some R&D and corporate locations in those areas already zoned for that type of development or already developed. The ratables will go up and they can provide living wage jobs unlike casual chain restaurants or food markets people keep bringing up. And the people who may commute from out of town to work at those jobs can spend their money here on the existing retail and service business.

Steve, you’ll love this. The field just to the south of my house, the one behind the Sprint Building on 206 near the Montgomery border, was originally zoned Agriculture (AG) when I first moved here 28 or so years ago. Also, from my understanding that filed has been farmed for the last 45 years.

Anyway sometime back the zoning there was changed to Economic Development (ED) which, BTW is zoning just like you are looking for, corporate office buildings on 50 acre lots. Cool Right? -- Well NO

Of late that lot was rezone at the owners request (Thomson, the largest land owner in NJ) to Highway Zone (HZ) which, BTW is zoning that you say you are against as it would make it now possible to develop strip malls and others things in there that we already have a vacant ponderous of in Hillsborough!

Discloser: Yes it is in my backyard, so to speak and it is still being farmed as we speak. Also, I have been to the TC and PB, asking them to change the zoning back to AG, but I’m told by the Township Planner it gets complicated!

I currently await a response from the TC and PB

PS. There are other issues there, I’ll outline them later, but suffice it to say, they could all be solved by retuning it to the actually usage occurring there AG! But agsin I STRESS, it gets complicated and risky!

I guess no-one remembers that hillsborough ONCE HAD a ace hardware...........
FIVE GUY'S currently occupies the land that they were on.

when lowes moved in ace shortly later moved out.

Check out Central Jersey Nursery on Hamilton road. They are a long time, Hillsborough family owned business, who just built a new building and put a hardware section in that reminds me of the good old Ace Hardware place.

PS - They actually sell REAL hardware there too, not the cheap, going to break in your hands nuts and bolts like you find in the Big Box Stores!!!!

I would love an Ace Hardware. Lowes is great for some things, but Ace was good for when you're in the middle of a project and you just need something quick, like a box of drywall screws or faucet washers.
I will take your advice and check out CJN. I need to check whether they sharpen lawnmower and chainsaw blades.

Yes, we had an Ace. That was one of my favorite stores in town, even after Lowes moved in. It was a good place to get things more quickly than walking all over a giant store, plus they usually had someone who could give advice to a DIY guy like me.
The store seemed to do good business.
I heard they closed due to the high rent.
I'd love it if Hillsborough could get an Ace Hardware again.

I would think that would be good for them. With high visibility and the square footage of a Bally's or LA Fitness, it would be a good fit. But it would also give all the other smaller gyms a run for their money.

Weatherhed - It's all related. The school budget got passed with investments in technology. The teachers are getting their tablets (need them or not). Getting quality businesses in town help raise business tax revenues, help employ people and, if the right businesses, help us spend more time in town and less braving the roads north and south.