Bernards Township, New Jersey

History

Bernards Township was originally formed by Royal charter on May 24, 1760, as Bernardston Township from remaining portions of Northern precinct. It was incorporated as Bernards Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798, as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships. Portions of the township were taken to form Warren Township (March 5, 1806), Far Hills (April 7, 1921) and Bernardsville (March 6, 1924). Bernards Township celebrated its 250th charter anniversary on May 24, 2010. The township was named for Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet, who served as governor of the Province of New Jersey.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 24.061 square miles (62.317 km²), including 23.934 square miles (61.988 km²) of land and 0.127 square miles (0.330 km²) of water (0.53%).

The township is roughly bounded by the Second Watchung Mountain in the southwest, the Dead River swamp on the south, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Passaic River, and Millington Gorge in the East.

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Basking Ridge, Green Knoll, Hardscrabble, Liberty Corner, Lyons, Madisonville, Mount Horeb, Somerset Mills, State Park, Stone House and White Bridge. Martinsville is an unincorporated area in Bridgewater Township, whose 08836 ZIP code also covers portions of Bernards Township.

The township borders Bedminster Township and Far Hills to the west, Bernardsville to the northwest, Bridgewater Township to the southwest, and Warren Township to the southeast in Somerset County and Harding Township to the northeast and Long Hill to the east in Morris County.

Census 2010

The 2010 United States Census counted 26,652 people, 9,783 households, and 6,897 families residing in the township. The population density was 1,113.6 per square mile (430.0/km²). The township contained 10,103 housing units at an average density of 422.1 per square mile (163.0/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 81.83% (21,809) White, 1.89% (504) Black or African American, 0.08% (20) Native American, 13.80% (3,679) Asian, 0.03% (7) Pacific Islander, 0.55% (147) from other races, and 1.82% (486) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 3.95% (1,054) of the population.

Out of a total of 9,783 households, 40.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.7% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.5% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.27.

In the township, 28.8% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 20.6% from 25 to 44, 32.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.1 years. For every 100 females the census counted 93.5 males, but for 100 females at least 18 years old, it was 88.5 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $123,285 (with a margin of error of +/- $7,030) and the median family income was $153,906 (+/- $14,565). Males had a median income of $123,390 (+/- $9,621) versus $86,272 (+/- $9,195) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $67,809 (+/- $4,972). About 2.1% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.3% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

Census 2000

At the 2000 United States Census there were 24,575 people, 9,242 households and 6,487 families residing in the township. The population density was 1,023.8 per square mile (395.4/km²). There were 9,485 housing units at an average density of 395.1 per square mile (152.6/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 89.20% White, 1.44% African American, 0.05% Native American, 7.85% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races, and 1.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.63% of the population.

There were 9,242 households of which 37.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.0% were married couples living together, 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.8% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.17.

Age distribution was 27.7% under the age of 18, 3.2% from 18 to 24, 31.2% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $107,204, and the median income for a family was $135,806. Males had a median income of $95,758 versus $60,865 for females. The per capita income for the township was $56,521. About 0.6% of families and 1.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.2% of those under age 18 and 2.9% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The headquarters of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Fedders, Hitachi Power Systems USA and Verizon Wireless are located in the township. Verizon Communications, which maintains its world headquarters in New York City, has located operations of its major business units in buildings that were formerly AT&T's world headquarters.

Local government

Bernards Township operates under the Township form of New Jersey municipal government. The five-member Township Committee is elected directly by the voters at-large in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year as part of the November general election in a three-year cycle. In the Township Committee form of government, all legislative and executive powers of the Township are the responsibility of the Township Committee, except in matters of health. The Mayor is elected by the committee from among its members at the annual Reorganization meeting held in January. In the Township Committee form of government, all members have equal power and may vote on all issues.

As of 2016, members of the Township Committee are Mayor Carol Bianchi (R, term on committee and as mayor ends December 31, 2016), Deputy Mayor Carolyn Gaziano (R, term on committee ends 2018; term as deputy mayor ends 2016), John Carpenter (R, 2017), John Malay (R, 2018) and Thomas S. Russo Jr. (R, 2017).

Federal, state and county representation

Bernards Township is located in the 7th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 21st state legislative district. Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 Census, Bernards Township had been in the 16th state legislative district. Prior to the 2010 Census, Bernards Township had been part of the 11th Congressional District, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.

New Jersey's Seventh Congressional District is represented by Leonard Lance (R, Clinton Township). New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Cory Booker (D, Newark, term ends 2021) and Bob Menendez (D, Paramus, 2019).

For the 2016–2017 session (Senate, General Assembly), the 21st Legislative District of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Thomas Kean Jr. (R, Westfield) and in the General Assembly by Jon Bramnick (R, Westfield) and Nancy Munoz (R, Summit). The Governor of New Jersey is Chris Christie (R, Mendham Township). The Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey is Kim Guadagno (R, Monmouth Beach).

Somerset County is governed by a five-member Board of Chosen Freeholders, whose members are elected at-large to three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with one or two seats coming up for election each year. At an annual reorganization meeting held in the beginning of January, the board selects a Director and Deputy Director from among its members. As of 2016, Somerset County's Freeholders are Freeholder Director Patricia L. Walsh (R, Green Brook Township, term ends December 31, 2016), Freeholder Deputy Director Peter S. Palmer (R, Bernardsville, 2017), Patrick Scaglione (R, Bridgewater Township, 2018), Mark Caliguire (R, Skillman in Montgomery Township, 2018), and Brian D. Levine (R, Franklin Township, 2017), Constitutional officers elected on a countywide basis are County Clerk Brett A. Radi (R, Somerville, 2017), Sheriff Frank J. Provenzano (R, Raritan, 2016) and Surrogate Frank Bruno (R, Branchburg, 2018).

Politics

As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 18,377 registered voters in Bernards Township, of which 3,544 (19.3% vs. 26.0% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 7,019 (38.2% vs. 25.7%) were registered as Republicans and 7,803 (42.5% vs. 48.2%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 11 voters registered to other parties. Among the township's 2010 Census population, 69.0% (vs. 60.4% in Somerset County) were registered to vote, including 96.9% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 80.4% countywide).

In the 2012 presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney received 59.2% of the vote (7,879 cast), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 40.1% (5,338 votes), and other candidates with 0.8% (101 votes), among the 13,383 ballots cast by the township's 19,555 registered voters (65 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 68.4%. In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 8,078 votes here (56.1% vs. 46.1% countywide), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 6,143 votes (42.6% vs. 52.1%) and other candidates with 99 votes (0.7% vs. 1.1%), among the 14,405 ballots cast by the township's 18,039 registered voters, for a turnout of 79.9% (vs. 78.7% in Somerset County). In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 8,364 votes here (60.6% vs. 51.5% countywide), ahead of Democrat John Kerry with 5,317 votes (38.5% vs. 47.2%) and other candidates with 84 votes (0.6% vs. 0.9%), among the 13,812 ballots cast by the township's 16,534 registered voters, for a turnout of 83.5% (vs. 81.7% in the whole county).

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 77.1% of the vote (6,505 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 21.7% (1,829 votes), and other candidates with 1.2% (105 votes), among the 8,547 ballots cast by the township's 19,701 registered voters (108 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 43.4%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 6,124 votes here (59.5% vs. 55.8% countywide), ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 2,639 votes (25.6% vs. 34.1%), Independent Chris Daggett with 1,427 votes (13.9% vs. 8.7%) and other candidates with 33 votes (0.3% vs. 0.7%), among the 10,293 ballots cast by the township's 18,244 registered voters, yielding a 56.4% turnout (vs. 52.5% in the county).

Relationship with Terrebonne Parish

In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which had a devastating effect on the area, locals from the Bernards Township sent truckloads of much-needed supplies to assist residents of Houma, Louisiana. In 2007, the Parish returned the favor by sending The Terrebonne High School Marching band on a 26-hour bus ride to the Bernards Township to march in their Christmas parade, and perform a Christmas concert for the public at a local church.

Education

Students in public school for pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade are educated by the Bernards Township School District. As of the 2013-14 school year, the district's six schools had an enrollment of 5,761 students and 455.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.6:1. The schools in the district (with 2013-14 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Cedar Hill Elementary School (grades K-5; 612 students), Liberty Corner Elementary School (K-5; 595), Mount Prospect Elementary School (PreK-5; 690), Oak Street Elementary School (K-5; 616) William Annin Middle School (6-8; 1,364) and Ridge High School (9-12; 1,884). The district offers a state-of-the-art public program for children on the autism spectrum, utilizing the principles of applied behavior analysis.

During the 2009-10 school year, Ridge High School was awarded the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive. The school had also won the award for the 1986-87 school year. Mount Prospect Elementary School was one of 11 in the state to be recognized in 2014 by the United States Department of Education's National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. In 2015, Liberty Corner School was one of 15 schools in New Jersey, and one of nine public schools, recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in the exemplary high performing category.

Ridge High School was ranked 194th, the second-highest in New Jersey, in Newsweek magazine's 2010 rankings of America's Best High Schools. The school was the 9th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 328 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 12th in 2010 out of 322 schools. The Ridge High School was ranked 37th best in America in 2015 by Newsweek

Pingry School, a private coeducational college preparatory day school, has its upper campus, for grades 6 to 12, located in Basking Ridge (prior to 2013 the campus had been listed as being located in Martinsville).

Saint James School is a parochial elementary school for students in preschool through eighth grade that operates under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen.

Roads and highways

As of May 2010, the township had a total of 138.86 miles (223.47 km) of roadways, of which 109.20 miles (175.74 km) were maintained by the municipality, 21.13 miles (34.01 km) by Somerset County and 8.53 miles (13.73 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Public transportation

NJ Transit train service is available at the Basking Ridge station and Lyons station on the Gladstone Branch, providing service between Gladstone and Hoboken Terminal.

NJ Transit provides local bus service on the MCM8 route.

Lakeland Bus Lines provides Route 78 rush-hour service from Bedminster to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.

Points of interest

Justice Department Lawsuit

On November 22, 2016, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Bernards Township, alleging "that the township violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it denied zoning approval to allow the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge to build a mosque on land it owns."

In January of 2017 the township hired Trenton-based Burton Trent Public Affairs to help manage the negative publicity associated with the Justice Department's allegations. The contract was reportedly worth $45,000.

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Bernards Township include: