Revisions eyed for WW greenbelt plan

One change would increase developable land on Sarnoff property.

By: Gwen Runkle
   WEST WINDSOR — A subcommittee of the Township Planning Board has proposed several changes to a proposed greenbelt ordinance, one of which would increase the amount of developable land along Sarnoff Corp.’s Route 1 property.
   The Ordinance Review Subcommittee was charged with revising the ordinance after several developers and landowners, including Sarnoff Corp., voiced opposition to the ordinance at a Planning Board meeting Aug. 22.
   The ordinance would prohibit development in areas delineated as greenbelt — woods, meadows, wetlands, farm fields and flood plains that straddle major streams — on the township’s greenbelt map. The Planning Board in July approved the map of proposed greenbelt areas, which is part of the township’s draft Master Plan. The ordinance is necessary to enforce the map’s guidelines.
   As originally written, the ordinance would have prevented Sarnoff Corp. from building on 150 acres of its 300-acre property. Specifically, the company would have been forced to move a 600,000-square-foot portion of its proposed 3-million-square- foot "technology campus" from a site between Little Bear Brook and Big Bear Brook, which is at the center of the 150 acres designated as greenbelt.
   Under the proposed revisions, 120 acres of Sarnoff Corp.’s property would be designated as greenbelt.
   "We’re proposing that a wooded lot, planted and managed by Sarnoff, be excluded" from the greenbelt, said Steve Decter, chairman of the ordinance review subcommittee.
   Sam Surtees, township land use director, said if the revised ordinance is accepted, Sarnoff Corp. could develop the 30-acre tree farm.
   "They could cut down the trees and develop in the area," he said. "If this revised ordinance ever gets enacted, Sarnoff will not have to protect those 20 to 30 acres."
   Thomas Lento, spokesman for Sarnoff Corp., said he had not had an opportunity to review the revised ordinance and could not comment on whether the company would still need to move a portion of its proposed technology campus.
   But Councilwoman Jackie Alberts, who also sits on the subcommittee, said the technology campus would still have to be moved.
   Walter Schmidlin, director of facilities for Sarnoff Corp., was unavailable for comment.
   Ms. Alberts said the exclusion of Sarnoff Corp.’s 30-acre tree farm "wasn’t done explicitly with Sarnoff in mind."
   "We were grappling with how to define forest," she said. "There are 92 state statutes about forest, but the term ‘forest’ is never defined. Someone then presented the issue of whether or not a tree farm is a forest."
   She said the subcommittee decided that a tree farm should not be considered a forest and therefore would not be designated as greenbelt.
   "We want to encourage people to plant trees," she said. "We don’t want to penalize them for planting trees."
   At a Planning Board meeting Aug. 22, Kevin Moore, an attorney for Sarnoff Corp., and other landowners and developers objected to the proposed ordinance, saying it would prevent them from building what they want on their own property.
   The ordinance states that development planned for greenbelt areas would have to be shifted to a nongreenbelt area. To accommodate such changes, buildings could be built higher, closer together and closer to roadways or parking areas, according to the ordinance.
   Mr. Moore said Aug. 29 that it would not be "economically viable" for Sarnoff Corp. to move the 600,000-square-foot portion of the technology campus to the western nongreenbelt area of the site and would result in an unattractive grouping of high-rises and parking garages.
   Other revisions to the ordinance included clarifying the definition of what greenbelt is, and providing a process for landowners to object to the township’s designation of greenbelt on their property, Mr. Decter said.
   He said the ordinance is expected to be brought back to the Planning Board late this month or early October before being introduced by the Township Council.