WEST WINDSOR: County urged to protect areas during map revisions

By Allison Musante, Staff Writer
   WEST WINDSOR — With the goal of promoting responsible development statewide, regional environmentalists are urging Mercer County to protect areas in West Windsor that are home to bald eagles and long-eared owls while it revises its sewer service area maps.
   The county is revising the maps as part of a new wastewater management plan that will meet an administrative order from the state Department of Environmental Protection. New regulations, which call for municipalities to update their systems for more responsible wastewater management and planning, were adopted in 2008 to comply with the federal Clean Water Act, said county spokeswoman Julie Willmot.
   In response, the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, central New Jersey’s major environmental group, has issued an action alert requesting the county remove “environmentally sensitive” areas from the maps, fearing inappropriate or harmful development.
   The Watershed Association is concerned with protecting several wooded areas in West Windsor and others along the Millstone River, including the land between Carnegie Lake and Route 1 on both sides of Washington Road, where long-eared owls have been spotted, and an 80-acre property owned by Princeton University along Route 1 North, which has housed a nest of bald eagles for years. The long-eared owl is threatened in the state.
   Jim Waltman, executive director of the association, said to comply with these rules, the county should exclude these areas from the maps to prevent the installation of new sewer lines, which lead to new development.
   ”The fact that eagles have nested on the property is an attention-grabbing example but our issue is not directed just at these parcels of land,” he said. “For many years, we’ve been interested in a new way of how we think of growth in the state so that we can objectively identify areas where development makes sense.”
   At the beginning of the revision process, the DEP excluded these two parcels from the maps, said Ms. Willmot. The county suggested the landowners conduct site specific habitat suitability studies, which Princeton University did. The study allowed the university to confirm or refute old DEP mapping, which was based on a “landscape project” based on aerial photography and other. The analysis showed the area and the eagle habitat was within the floodplain of the Millstone River and Carnegie Lake, which has traditionally been excluded from the service maps, Ms. Willmot said. The county has taken this data into consideration during its process, she said.
   Under current DEP regulations, development is permitted in environmentally sensitive areas, with several conditions, according to DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese.
   He said sewer lines can be built through these areas because they are connected to non-environmentally sensitive areas. When new development is planned for the university owned site, a buffer zone would protect the eagles’ nest.
   The university is aware of the nest, which is near Harrison Street, but officials observed the nest was abandoned last winter, according to university spokeswoman Emily Aronson. But the DEP would protect the abandoned nest for up to five years, in case the eagles return, said Mr. Ragonese.
   Ms. Aronson said the university has no current plans to develop the area, but future plans would comply with DEP regulations at the time of the application.
   ”When the university purchased the land in 2001, we said at the time it was intended for future academic use,” she said. “While this is still the planned use, there are no current development plans or plans to develop the land in the foreseeable future.”
   Mr. Ragonese said “This is a very developable site and parts will be developed, I expect. But could a pair of eagles prevent development? The answer’s no.”
   The university property has been on the service maps for decades, with the exception of a flood plain, and a major sewer line already runs through the property on the west side of Route 1, said Ms. Willmot.
   ”Whatever lines are already there, well, what’s done is done,” Mr. Waltman said. “But we’re working for a broader goal of achieving an orderly planning process that attempts to keep out new development from these areas. We’re fortunate to have these environmentally sensitive areas in our midst, so we should protect them.”
   He added that development along the Millstone River could potentially pollute the water, where the eagles and other animals hunt for fish.
   Mr. Ragonese said eagles are not commonly found in the state, let alone in such high-traffic areas as Route 1. According to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, there are about 80 pairs of nesting eagles in the state, most of which are found in Delaware Bay counties. The bald eagle was removed from the federal list of endangered species in 2007, but the eagle is classified as endangered in the state, according to the DEP’s 2010 Eagle Report.
   ”You can have protected eagles and future academic areas, with development and jobs created from all that,” Mr. Ragonese said. “You can have all that and it would actually be really great.”
   The public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed maps in the spring, Ms. Willmot said.