ROCKY HILL: Sewer service area changes proposed for boro

By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
   ROCKY HILL — Borough residents have until mid-September to comment on the county’s proposed new sewer service areas.
   While the plan slates certain areas of the borough for removal from the service area, the focus is on avoiding environmentally sensitive areas. Sections of some residential properties may be touched, but residences are not the target of the changes.
   County Director of Planning Robert P. Bzik said the proposed changes stem from the water quality management planning regulations adopted in 2008.
   ”All the last year and a half or so we’ve been working with local wastewater management committees in order to update the proposed sewer service boundaries,” he said.
   One of the requirements is that environmentally constrained areas like wetlands must be removed from the maps, and so the county Planning Division has worked with the state Department of Environmental Protection and the county Board of Chosen Freeholders to put those changes into effect.
   At the behest of the freeholders, the division has posted the proposed maps online and sent certified letters to homeowners in the affected areas, Mr. Bzik said. The letters began going out this week.
   The vast majority of the land in the borough to be removed is in or near Borough Hall, Panicaro and Van Horne parks.
   ”Where there are parks or open space that don’t have to be sewered, those lands are being removed. If there’s a need to locate a restroom or some kind of support facility we’ll carve out that area, so it could tie into public sewage at a later date,” Mr. Bzik said.
   Throughout the county, he said sections of private property may also be affected, though the borough map lists almost exclusively parkland.
   ”Most of the changes (in the county) involve some clipping of rear yards where there might be wetlands or they’re adjacent to a stream corridor,” he said.
   Mayor Ed Zimmerman said Thursday he had heard about the plans and had seen no proposals that would eliminate sewer services from any residence.
   ”Every home has sewer service — no one has septic — and there are no plans that have come before this council or me to remove sewer service” for homeowners, he said.
   For more information on the sewer service areas, including maps and how to comment, visit www.co.somerset.nj.us/planweb/wastewater.
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