BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP: For the love of earth

Bordentown Committee discusses trash management, solar ordinance

By David Kilby, Special Writer
   BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — Municipal leaders conveyed concern for the environment at the Township Committee meeting Jan. 14.
   The committee discussed moving forward with plans to possibly begin a Public Works expansion project set to improve trash management in town.
   Committee members also provided direction to the Environmental Commission as it composes a solar panel field ordinance.
   As for improving trash management, Bordentown Township is exploring purchasing the lot of an abandoned warehouse next to the Public Works building to expand the department to include a drop-off area for items not picked up by garbage trucks.
   ”I’ve felt very comfortable with this project,” Committeeman Stephen Benowitz said. “It will give our residents the service they deserve.”
   Residents would be able to drop off sticks, branches, electronics, appliances and excess trash between garbage collections, Mayor Jim Cann said.
   The committee agreed to hold a public hearing at its Jan. 28 meeting in which the township may introduce a bond ordinance to buy the property, and the public will be given an opportunity to express its opinion on whether the township should proceed to purchase the land, Mayor Cann said.
   The property has been appraised at approximately $704,000, Mayor Cann said.
   The site was formerly home to a National Fence Company warehouse.
   The bond ordinance would cover the purchase of the property, necessary site modifications and needed work on the Public Works building, Mayor Cann said.
   The work needed for the Public Works facility would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Mayor Cann said.
   Mr. Benowitz suggested placing a fence around the property and controlling who can access it so people from other towns don’t end up using it.
   The proposed facility would be open Saturdays and also would provide a garage for Public Works trucks.
   While the Public Works Department looks to help the environment by providing better means for trash disposal, the Environmental Commission is in the process of drafting a solar panel ordinance to regulate where and how solar panel fields are built in the township.
   The commission submitted a rough draft of the ordinance to the committee at the meeting, and Committeewoman Jill Popko, liaison to the commission, said the draft was just a list of suggestions.
   The committee in turn suggested the commission look at the solar panel ordinances of surrounding townships, including Mansfield and Hamilton, to help it determine what kind of ordinance would best suit Bordentown Township.
   Generally, the rough draft suggested forbidding the construction of solar panel fields in residential zones, but permitting them in commercial zones and requiring appropriate landscaping to serve as a buffer.
   Ms. Popko said the commission also is looking for an aesthetic component to be required for solar panel fields, perhaps through tasteful landscaping.
   She said the commission’s recommendation to the Township Committee is for members to look at the solar panel ordinance rough draft and make suggestions.
   Committeeman Karl Feltes said many of the requirements in the draft are “onerous” and may only encourage commercial solar panel enterprises to look somewhere else outside the township.
   ”We were just sending you a resolution requesting that an ordinance be written,” said Roger Plew, chairman of the commission.
   ”You’re giving us a lot of ideas for an ordinance, but not your specific ideas on where you want to go,” Mayor Cann said.
   He added that Hamilton and Mansfield may have good templates, and the Environmental Commission may just have to add or take out a few items to customize those templates to the needs of Bordentown.
   In a separate green initiative, the commission is looking into establishing an official policy that will regulate energy use in municipal departments (see related story on Page 1A). As part of the Sustainable New Jersey initiative, if the township meets the requirements of the “behavioral policy,” it would be one step closer to attaining environmental grants from the state.
   The committee was supportive of the idea when Mr. Plew presented it, but expressed its desire for the word “behavioral” to be replaced within the policy’s name.