East Windsor Township will seek loan of up to $1 million from the state to preserve three plots of land.
By: Marisa Maldonado
EAST WINDSOR The township announced last week that it is requesting a loan of up to $1 million from the state to preserve three plots of land.
The loan, which has a 1.5 percent interest rate, could almost triple the amount of money in East Windsor’s open space fund, which lies between $500,000 and $1 million, Mayor Janice Mironov said. The loan is through the Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program, part of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
"This would give us a tremendous infusion of funds at an extremely low interest rate," the mayor said.
She said a letter sent this week to the DEP detailed three plots of land the council would like to preserve: a 121-acre plot off Etra Road, a 30-acre tract just east of there on Disbrow Hill Road and a 17-acre tract west of One Mile Road.
"Our focus right now has been on acquiring open space, because there is funding available," Mayor Mironov said. "In some of those cases, there is an immediacy that if the property is not acquired, it will be developed by a private entity with homes or other types of development."
The plot off Etra Road has taken a particular immediacy with the township, as council members already have identified the 100 acres of land they would like to use for preservation.
Some environmental problems with the wetlands that make up a significant portion of the Etra Road plot led the council to take faster action on that land than it would on the other areas, Mayor Mironov said.
"There’s some possible pesticide contamination that we would further need to test and remediate," the mayor said.
The council has yet to identify what portions of the other two land properties it would like to use for preservation purposes. Municipalities are not allowed to use any property funded by the loan for recreation.
"It’s an environmentally related program it assumes there are some natural resources on the site," Mayor Mironov said.
The mayor said the remaining 21 acres on Etra Road could be used for recreation. The township could even attach that land to a 59-acre plot just east of the property, acquired last year using a grant from Mercer County.
The township hopes to acquire the properties within a year, Mayor Mironov said. Other potential properties are in the process of being appraised and surveyed.
It is important to balance business development with preserving open space, Mayor Mironov said, but open space is a particularly important issue because of the limited amount of untainted land.
"There’s a very wonderful rural character to a large area of East Windsor, and to people who have chosen to live here, that’s part of the beauty of the town," the mayor said. "The immediacy is because once the land is purchased and developed, you can’t go back to recapture it."

