$60,000 deer-culling contract approved
By: Rachel Silverman
Officials are looking to a new ordinance passed unanimously at Monday night’s Township Committee meeting as a partial solution to the municipality’s long-standing flooding woes.
The ordinance limits the amount of impervious or paved surface permitted on residential lots. It also requires homeowners who want to go above a certain threshold to create additional drainage features, such as drywells, detention basins, pipes and underground tanks.
While state law already regulates stormwater management on "major" land development and redevelopment projects meaning those that disturb one or more acres of land this ordinance gives the township jurisdiction over stormwater runoff on smaller land parcels.
Under the ordinance, smaller lots would be allowed a greater percentage of surface coverage than larger lots.
Brooks Bend Road resident Chris Tarr objected to the regulation, saying it didn’t take into account development on subdivided property.
"Anybody that lives in clustered subdivisions will be negatively treated under this ordinance," Mr. Tarr said, adding that this would present adverse affects on property value, as well.
Norman Pete Callaway, a borough-based real-estate broker, agreed.
"This will have a serious impact on certain properties if it is passed," he said.
Random Road resident Olivia Applegate, however, advocated environmental stewardship first and foremost.
"Our land cannot take it anymore," she said. "And with no place to go, (the water) just spreads higher and higher."
Speaking on behalf of the Princeton Environmental Commission, Rosemary Blair also praised the environmental emphasis. In addition, she cited a need for greater stream-bank erosion controls to protect the "water quality, fish life and overall ecology" of local tributaries.
Committeeman Bill Enslin acknowledged the tension between environmental and economic interests.
"This is a difficult balancing act," he said. "They’ve tried to balance the homeowner interests and the larger needs of the community."
Mr. Enslin and fellow committee members stressed that the ordinance does not constitute a final solution, but is more a work in progress.
Stormwater management consultant Joe Skupien also cautioned that the ordinance would not undo existing flood damage.
"It can’t retrofit existing houses and make the flooding less," he said. "It’s preventative in nature."
In other business, the Township Committee unanimously passed a resolution to renew its deer-culling contract with wildlife management firm White Buffalo.
Assistant township attorney Trishka Waterbury said the contract, which is set at $60,000, will take effect after sport hunting season ends in February. White Buffalo will cull roughly 150 animals, Ms. Waterbury said.
White Buffalo will continue its immunocontraceptive program in the southeastern corner of the township, where a fertility study is under way. Outside of the study zone, culling will take place from elevated stands, and with the practice of net and bolting.
The contract comes on the heels of a five-year White Buffalo program, which aimed to reduce the deer population to 20 animals per square mile.
Though the herd is presently larger than this goal, Ms. Waterbury said past efforts have narrowed the gap.
"We’re getting very close now to our target population," Ms. Waterbury confirmed. "By now, we’ve got this thing humming along pretty well."
The United Bowhunters of New Jersey also will help the process along, culling in the township through February.
But Ms. Waterbury said bowhunting alone can’t have a real impact on population.
"They’re not able to kill as many deer as we’d like to reach the target population," she said. "They can’t access enough of the township."
Bowhunting is permitted at four township parks and reserves: Fieldwood, Autumn Hill Reserve, Woodfield Reservation, and the Stony Brook tract at Puritan Court.
This contract, which passed in September, is a state requirement for those municipalities, such as Princeton Township, that want larger, more comprehensive culling programs.