BaseCamp Closing for Good on June 30

After two years in Bernardsville, following eight in Basking Ridge, outdoors store says it can't compete with online marketing and economic downtown.

BaseCamp Adventure Outfitters, part of the Bernardsville and Basking Ridge community for almost 10 years, will be closing its doors on June 30. The store with outdoors clothing and gear was located for most of its existence in the center of Basking Ridge, but moved in July 2011 to 30 Olcott Square in Bernardsville, near the parking lot for the Bernardsville Public Library. Before then, the store will be offering sales on its merchandise, with details to be posted on the BaseCamp website, according to the website and General Manager, Eleni Caravanos. Caravanos said in a news release about the store's closing, "With the online market booming and the downturn on the economy a small business such as, BaseCamp Adventure Outfitters simply cannot…

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'Vicious' Raccoon Attacks Child in Bernardsville Backyard

Animal never found despite search by police and animal control officers.

A mother who said her 6-year-old daughter was subjected to an unprovoked and "vicious" attack by an aggressive raccoon in her Bernardsville backyard on Monday said she wants to warn the public about what happened. The animal was never located, despite searches by borough police and animal control officers. The girl was treated immediately afterward at Morristown Medical Center, and now is receiving the multi-step rabies vaccine, said her mother, Heather MacDonald of Somerset Avenue. St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center, Bernardsville's contracted animal control service, had conducted searches in the area looking for the raccoon, but had been unable to find the animal, a spokeswoman for St. Hubert's said on Wednesday afternoon. Kim Saunders, …

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Turning Signal to Be Installed at Olcott Square in Bernardsville

Longtime concern about left turn heading north on Mount Airy Road to be addressed, mayor says.

The traffic turning patterns at Olcott Square in the center of Bernardsville have for many years been a headache for local officials and drivers. But next week — at long last — Mayor Lee Honecker said that the state is planning to install a left-turn arrow on Mount Airy Road as it crosses Route 202. Honecker told the Borough Council on Monday he has heard the state Department of Transportation will begin underground construction to allow the change in the traffic signal, with work to begin next Monday, March 18. Honecker said he had received the news from N.J. Sen. Anthony Bucco, (R-Dist. 25), who represents the borough. Honecker said that reportedly a resident had contacted Bucco's office expressing concern about the lefthand turn onto …

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Voltaire

12:27 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Yeah Yeah, I'm so glad I'm not alone on this. I occasionally drive through that intersection in the late evening. I am the ONLY car on the road and the light turns red. At the least it should be made a blinking light off peak hours. What makes less sense is that the detection cameras are mounted above the lights but clearly they are not functioning.   more ›

JCP&L Trimming Trees in Bernardsville, Somerset Hills

Tree trimming under way in some of the municipalities hard-hit by Sandy storm damage last fall.

After inspecting and trimming trees along nearly 4,000 miles of lines across its system in 2012, Jersey Central Power & Light is back in the Somerset Hills conducting tree trimming near power lines, JCP&L announced this week. Bernardsville and Peapack-Gladstone will be included in February's work as part of JCP&L's $24 million 2013 vegetation management program, according to JCP&L. Tree and foliage trimming this month will take place along more than 300 miles of power lines in 10 counties and multiple municipalities, the company said. JCP&L conducted tree-trimming in most of Bernards Township during late summer 2012, but a portion of the township is included in this year's tree trimming, said JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano. Morano said that as…

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Construction Partially Closes Mount Airy Road

Signs in place for official detour along Pill Hill and Meeker roads to reach downtown Bernardsville.

Workers from the New Jersey American Water Co. were out measuring Mount Airy Road on Tuesday for the start of the first phase of a complete overhall of the county road that eventually will include repaving, drainage work and the replacement of crumbling retaining walls and sidewalks south of Olcott Square in Bernardsville. The road is now closed to all but local traffic and school buses. This first phase of a larger $5 million road project, that will eventually also include replacing crumbling retaining walls and sidewalks in the area, could continue for about two months or a little more, Tricia Smith, principal highway engineer for Somerset County, said about a week ago. Detour signs already were in place at the road's intersection with …

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Should Gas Stations Be Required to Own Generators?

Suggestion by former Bernards Township Engineer and Planned sent to Bernards Township Committee, state representatives.

Like many, many New Jersey residents, former Bernards Township Engineer and Planner Peter Messina said he was extremely frustrated by gas stations that had gas but were unable to pump it during the lengthy power outages following Superstorm Sandy. "There were millions of gallons of gasoline in those underground tanks but people had to forage to find open stations and then wait in long lines," Messina said in a letter with a suggestion that is on the agenda be discussed at Tuesday night's Bernards Township Committee meeting. Messina's idea, also sent to William Dressel of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, calls for a local ordinance in Bernards Township and a bill in the state legislature that would require all gas stations to …

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CVS Set to Open in Bernardsville Later This Month

Chain pharmacy and retail store will fill long-vacant space left by ShopRite Annex.

CVS Pharmacy is due to open on Jan. 27 in a space of about 7,000 square feet that was left vacant by the closing of ShopRite Annex about a decade ago. The store, at 107 Morristown Road (Route 202), is in the center of Bernardsville's commercial zone. CVS received approvals from the Bernardsville Planning Board at the end of 2011. "We are very happy to see the new store, and the new facade, and they have done a great job of improving the site," said Bernardsville Councilman Joseph Rossi. He said he believed the vacant space — empty for at least a decade — had been a detriment to the town. Although he added another pharmacy might not have been what was most needed locally, the new CVS "will bring new business to the community, and will help …

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Growing Piles of Logs, Brush from Sandy in Bernardsville

The borough has pledged to collect storm-damaged trees and brush even from private properties, and the piles keep growing.

Bernardsville Invites Residents to Air Opinion of JCP&L Response to Sandy

Public meeting set up at Bernards High School on Nov. 28.