Stockton gets $2,500 DEP grant

The grant means the borough can do its environmental resources inventory at no cost to taxpayers.

By: Linda Seida
   STOCKTON — The borough was one of four municipalities in Hunterdon County to win a $2,500 environmental planning grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
   The Environmental Services Grant will be used by the borough’s Environmental Commission to help pay for an inventory of the town’s environmental resources. The grant will reduce the town’s financial obligation for the work to zero.
   The findings of the inventory will be used as the town prepares its Master Plan. Stockton has used several grants to pay for the inventory.
   In 2004, the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions awarded the town a $15,000 grant to perform the inventory. The grant required the borough to match it with another $15,000. Half of that amount, $7,500, was required to be cash and could come from other grants. The other half could be in the form of in-kind, or professional, services.
   A $5,000 grant from the Delaware River Greenway Partnership last fall cut the borough’s financial obligation to $2,500. The $2,500 DEP grant this month eliminates the borough’s financial obligation altogether.
   "The Stockton Environmental Commission is providing an outstanding community service at no cost to the taxpayers of the borough," Mayor Gregg Rackin said. "This is a great accomplishment. I applaud Chairman (Bill) Lowry and all the members of the commission for all the work they are doing for members of the community."
   Mayor Rackin added, "We don’t have the resources ourselves. Every penny is precious."
   The DEP grant, given by the Office of Local Government Assistance from the state’s Environmental Services Program, was one of 62 awarded April 15, totaling $150,000. The individual grants ranged from $1,000 to $2,500 and were awarded to environmental commissions and soil conservation districts.
   The grants will be used for such projects as open space planning, natural resource inventories, trail designs, watershed protection, geographic information systems mapping, educational programs and Sustainable Communities planning projects.
   "This funding gives our local partners the ability to focus much-needed attention on environmental concerns and allows them the freedom to develop projects to address the specific needs of the community," said Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey.
   "Local environmental partners are critical to effective environmental stewardship," said DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell, a resident of Lambertville. "Environmental commissions and soil conservation districts play an important role in implementing grass roots projects to protect environmentally sensitive lands and local waterways within their own borders."
   In addition to Stockton, the other Hunterdon County recipients of $2,500 grants are Bethlehem, Raritan and Readington townships.
   Also in Hunterdon, Clinton Township received an Environmental Services Grant in the amount of $1,525.
   According to the DEP, Bethlehem will use its grant to finance mapping the headwaters of the Musconetcong River within the township. Raritan will use its grant to prepare a pedestrian walkway and bikeway planning study and Readington will create environmental trails, allowing public access throughout 100 acres of the Cushetunk Mountain Nature Preserve. Clinton Township will use its grant for a municipal stormwater outreach education program.