THE YEAR IN REVIEW
By: Jake Uitti
MONTGOMERY Certainly the most significant event in the township this year was one of the last: final approval of the $5.95 million purchase of the 256-acre former North Princeton Developmental Center known now as Skillman Village from the state.
To go along with the purchase agreement, finalized this month, the committee approved the contract that transfers the environmental liability to Weston Solutions Inc. and obligates Weston to undertake the cleanup of the site.
"The approval and signing of the contract of sale for the purchase of the North Princeton Developmental Center, the land and the sewage treatment plant, was extremely important and took a gigantic amount of time and work on the part of a lot of people," Mayor Louise Wilson said.
The contract for the transfer will be sent to officials in Trenton to get the signatures that are needed to complete the transfer. On July 21, Gov. Jon Corzine signed a bill authorizing the sale of the NPDC property to the township.
The cleanup of the site will take months, and will involve remediation around the Village Elementary School. That work will be conducted while school is not in session. Cleanup not in close proximity to the school which involves asbestos remediation will be done while school is in session. The township is also actively looking for a firm to demolish the majority of buildings on the site.
Along with Skillman Village, another large-scale development is about to get under way in the township. Madison Marquette, the company that owns MarketFair in West Windsor, is planning a high-end shopping center off Route 206 just north of Princeton Airport.
The Planning Board on Dec. 4 granted preliminary approval for the development, and included a recommendation to the Township Committee for an early start. The early start would involve the construction of infrastructure and the road system for the development, called Montgomery Promenade.
The roads for Montgomery Promenade will be used as loop roads to help alleviate traffic congestion at the intersection of Routes 206 and 518.
Despite the landmark approvals, there is much more to do. In the new year, the Township Committee will be addressing these issues with one new member.
In the general election on Nov. 7, incumbents Cecilia Birge and Mark Caliguire were re-elected, trailed by Democrat Brad Fay and Republican Walter Geslak.On Nov. 20, however, Democratic Committeewoman Karen Wintress, citing family reasons, stepped down from her seat, leaving the door open for Mr. Fay. On Dec. 7, the Township Committee unanimously appointed Mr. Fay to fill the vacant seat.
Mr. Fay and the rest of the committee will have their hands full next year with several large-scale projects planned in the township, along with the controversial Wawa application.
The committee in November adopted amendments to the township service-station and wellhead-protection ordinances. The changes, which regulate the size of convenience stores in the township as well as limit the proximity of a service station from a wellhead, pose serious problems to Wawa, which proposes to move its convenience store at Routes 206 and 518 about 550 feet east toward the border of Rocky Hill.
On Nov. 2, Tim Prime, the attorney representing Wawa, sent a letter to the township challenging the township’s wellhead-protection and service-station ordinances, claiming the former is illegal and the latter arbitrary.
The township is currently awaiting the state Department of Environmental Protection’s review and possible approval of its amended wellhead-protection ordinance.
Mayor Wilson said there is a lot to be done next year with regard to the controversial Hillsborough Bypass, a proposed highway meant to alleviate traffic congestion in Hillsborough. Montgomery officials oppose the road as currently designed, saying the bypass would dump significant amounts of traffic in Montgomery and neighboring municipalities, including Rocky Hill and Princeton.
"I think there were some important steps moving forward on the bypass issue," Mayor Wilson said, "with DOT acknowledging an interest in some changes to the project to reduce costs and a willingness to look at alternative designs."
But not every significant event occurred this year within the realm of the committee.
In August, the Board of Education welcomed new interim Superintendent Samuel B. Stewart. He succeeded outgoing Superintendent Stuart Schnur, who retired in August one year before his term was up.
Since taking over as superintendent, Mr. Stewart has instituted a reading policy in the district, requiring teachers to read to their students regularly in all grades. In addition, Mr. Stewart and the board have welcomed guest speakers at board meetings, including Stanley Katz, a professor at Princeton University, who spoke on the need to resist the current "test culture" in schools, and to move toward more progressive teaching methods.
Something that affects all residents of the township and is felt both by the Township Committee and the school board is property taxes.
In late November, the Somerset County Tax Board approved the request of township Tax Assessor Eleanor Blake to withdraw the township’s application for the 2007 property reassessment.
Ms. Blake asked that the application be withdrawn, saying the prescribed formula for assigning property value yielded assessments that were substantially higher than today’s market value, and thus indefensible.
Over the next few months, township officials said they will be examining how to resolve the problem so that reassessments will be fair next year.
As usual in the township, focus was placed this year on open space and township parks. The $2 million, 95-acre Van Horne Park, a joint effort of the township and Rocky Hill, was opened Dec. 16. The park includes pathway systems, ball fields and playground equipment for children of all ages. The cost of the park is split between the township and Rocky Hill, with the township picking up 80 percent of the tab.
Looking forward, Mayor Wilson said there is still much to be done regarding Skillman Village and the Hillsborough Bypass.

