Overdevelopment Is Putting Hillsborough Residents At Risk: Letter

Dear Editor,

Over the last four years, 2,400 units of new residential housing have been approved for development in Hillsborough, with thousands of additional housing units still under discussion.

As a result, our township’s population has begun to explode. We all know that overdevelopment drives up taxes, creates more traffic, degrades our environment, and impacts our quality of life. As a member of the township planning board since 2006, Mayor Frank DelCore has been responsible for every single development decision in Hillsborough for more than a decade. And those decisions are beginning to put residents at risk.

According to U.S. Census, 39,712 people lived in Hillsborough in 2017, up 8 percent since 2000. This does not even include new housing completed over the last 2 years. Hillsborough’s estimated population will increase between 2,000 and 5,000 in the next five years due to the rush of new housing.

This explosion of rapid overdevelopment has huge implications for our public safety that Mayor DelCore has failed to address. Despite population growth, there are fewer officers on the Hillsborough Police Department than there were in 2006. We have 36 fewer volunteer firefighters than we did in 2012. In 2017, Mayor DelCore outsourced Hillsborough EMS to RWJUH in New Brunswick, located as far as 20 miles away from some parts of Hillsborough. Will our dedicated first responders be stretched too thin when we call 911 if their ranks continue to decline while the number of residents they serve continues to grow?

I am pleased to see that Hillsborough’s board of Fire Commissioners has wisely voted to hire full-time paid firemen to serve our community, with the possibility of hiring as many as 10 more in the near future. I’d like to offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Hillsborough Board of Fire Commissioners for putting Hillsborough’s safety first and to our firefighters for having the courage to protect us.

I am running for Township Committee because I believe our families’ and senior citizens’ needs should be at the forefront of every development and planning decision that our government makes. You are at the center of what makes our community a safe place to call home, and I stand with you.

Jeffrey Wright,
Candidate for Hillsborough Twp Committee

Note: The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.