By Stephanie Prokop, Staff Writer
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP—Despite a letter from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority stating time has run out to discuss options for the highway widening project, members of the Bordentown Township Committee said this week they are determined to continue discussions.
The letter dated Oct. 9 from John Keller, the supervising engineer for the proposed Turnpike widening project, states the potential meeting dates in September and October had “passed with no formal response from the township.” He then outlined the action the Turnpike Authority would take on three hot-button topics that were brought up at a committee meeting Aug. 25: Williamsburg Village utility relocation options (for the Transco pipeline), Green Acres mitigation, and Clifton Mill reforestation and noise concerns.
Committeeman William Morelli said Tuesday that the township had notified the Turnpike Authority on Oct. 10, asking for meeting dates that extended as far as December.
Mr. Morelli said Mr. Keller’s letter reached the township last week, stating that further correspondence was no longer needed.
“Lacking your response to the Authority’s offers, the Authority will now avail itself of all powers available to it in order to acquire township properties and interests necessary for the Widening Program to proceed as has been directed by the Governor and the Legislature,” the letter states.
Committeeman Mark Roselli, however, said the township will continue discussions with the Turnpike Authority and will be doing it at a higher level.
Mr. Roselli said alternative options are being explored to side-step the threat of increased noise pollution
for those who live near the Turnpike.
Pennoni Associates, based in Philadelphia, Pa., has been hired by the township to conduct a sound study to prove to the Authority that a sound barrier wall is needed.
The sound barrier remains a key negotiation point between the township and the Authority. The Authority had previously said the sound coming from proposed expansion would not be loud enough to necessitate a sound barrier wall.
“We are gathering this information so that when we sit down (with the Authority higher-ups), we have these reports, and the facts can warrant the additional sound walls that we are asking for,” he said.
In his letter, Mr. Keller said the widening program had “been determined by the Governor and the Legislature to be an undertaking of significant importance and in the greater public interest, and had tried to address local concerns and more in a manner most beneficial to the township.”
Mr. Morelli said he doubts that the committee will be able to negotiate any more points with the Authority.
He said on Tuesday he thinks that the letter “means exactly what it says,” and is doubtful that the township will have any recourse in negotiating favorable terms for the township.
“In my considered opinion, I think the township is going to lose everything that we had been working towards for the past year with the Authority,” he said.
The Authority is offering to either plant trees on 18.3-acres of township-owned land, or a monetary contribution will be made to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The Authority and the township were also in discussions about the township taking on an 18-acre tract that is owned by the Authority and known locally as the Dix Drive-In property.
The Authority has maintained that to date, the township has not formally accepted or rejected the Authority’s proposed Green Acre negotiation offer regarding the property and has rebuffed the Authority’s offer to continue discussions.
Mr. Morelli added that he doesn’t think that these two discussion items will ever be back on the table for the township.
“I don’t think there are going to be any trees planted between Clifton Mills and the Turnpike, and I don’t think that the Dix property is (any) longer in play,” he said.
“The issue is that we were never going to stop the widening, we were just working towards the best deal we could get, and these were two things that we were working toward,” he added.
Mr. Morelli said the committee had met several times over the past year with Assemblyman Joseph R. Malone, R-30th, and Turnpike Authority representatives to discuss these items.
Mr. Roselli insists that the Township Committee is still “obtaining the sound studies like we said we would, and that a report will be furbished and presented to the authority as soon as possible.”

