Part of plan to retain open space along the Millstone and build a linear trail.
By: Jill Matthews
WEST WINDSOR The township might soon add another parcel of preserved land to its growing list.
The Township Council introduced an ordinance Monday to acquire the approximately 8-acre Gunther property on Joanne Street, off Millstone Road near the Millstone River and the Plainsboro border. The council also introduced a $632,000 bond ordinance to cover the cost of acquiring the property.
The property also includes one house that will be demolished using funds from the bond ordinance, according to Sam Surtees, township land use manager.
The Mercer County Open Space Committee also agreed Tuesday night to provide $180,000 in funding for the purchase, and the Friends of West Windsor Open Space will apply for a $180,000 Green Acres grant for the property, which it said it expects to receive. The township will cover the remainder of the $632,000 purchase cost, unless additional funding can be identified.
Acquiring this piece of property was important to the township’s plan to preserve land around the Millstone River and build a trail, among other things, to improve recreational activities in the township.
By acquiring land and gaining access to easements along the river, the township hopes to eventually create a trail that will stretch along the Millstone River from the Princeton border to the East Windsor border. The township has not yet acquired or gained easements on all properties along the river.
"The reason this is important this is going to be a piece of property that will continue what we wanted to do to preserve the riverbank of the Millstone River," said Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, who was not at the meeting Monday. Under current zoning, the property can be developed for two houses, he said.
Some of the trail has been built already. In late October, FOWWOS held a public review of plans for improvements to a half-mile portion of the Millstone River Preserve Trail near Millstone Road. Those improvements provide for access to and travel on the Millstone River with the addition of a canoe-kayak launch located near the Millstone Road bridge; connection of the existing trail to a future small gravel parking lot at the trailhead on Millstone Road; and addition of a macadam path along Millstone Road from the gravel parking lot to the canoe-kayak launch area.
"It is another great example of private-public partnership between Friends of West Windsor Open Space and the township to preserve … the roots of West Windsor for future generations," said Mike Schuit, president of FOWWOS.

