By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — An ordinance which will amend development regulations in stream corridors and stream corridor buffers is scheduled to have a public hearing, second reading and possible adoption at the Township Committee’s Sept. 18 meeting.
"Manalapan recognizes that our endangered species and our wetlands are very valuable to the town," Committeewoman Mary Cozzolino said upon the ordinance’s introduction. "As building pressure increases, those areas become more vulnerable to development. This is a way of protecting our last vestiges of environmentally valuable property along stream banks and stream corridors."
According to a draft copy of the ordinance, "The Township Committee has determined that these regulations are needed to better protect water resources through improved planning aimed at reducing sources of pollution and other adverse effects of development, encouraging design in hazard-free areas that will protect the natural function of streams, and optimizing sustainable use of the water resources in Manalapan."
A set of revised definitions, included in the amendment of the ordinance, was determined for the following environmental features: streams, stream corridors and stream corridor buffers.
Officials said the enactment of the ordinance would improve the management, care and conservation of the water resources of Manalapan; protect significant ecological components of stream corridors such as flood plains, woodlands, steep slopes and wild life and plant habitats within the stream corridors of the watershed; reduce the number of nutrients, sediment, organic matter, pesticides and other harmful substances that reach watercourses and subsurface and surface water bodies by using scientifically proven process; and regulate the land use, siting and engineering of all development to be consistent with the intent and objectives of the ordinance and accepted conservation practices.
"This adds a layer of protection" to development regulations the township already has in place, Cozzolino said.