574118e167b228105a09cd95de1eca29.jpg

EAST WINDSOR: Plans for Route 33 corridor move along

138 acres in East Windsor Township are slated for development

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
   EAST WINDSOR — Approximately 138 acres — which includes an unknown amount of forest — is now one step closer to future commercial development as the township moves forward with its vision to create a Route 33 Corridor.
   Tuesday, the Township Council unanimously approved an ordinance to change the area’s land usage for the nearly 140 acres situated along the route.
   Atypical for a township meeting, the room was standing room only.
   ”I appreciate that a number of you are interested in this,” said Mayor Janice Mironov on June 11.
   ”This is an initial step in a rezoning, and what it does is it eliminates uses that are now permitted on these lands within East Windsor Township,” said township planner Richard Coppola.
   He works for Coppola of Coppola & Coppola Associates in Princeton Junction, West Windsor.
   Of the ordinance Mr. Coppola told the packed crowd that “it removes uses.”
   There are 138.2 acres of vacant land in East Windsor, and of that, 94.6 acres are zoned highway commercial and 43.6 acres, industrial office. There is an additional 28.7 acres in Hightstown, which is not part of the ordinance provision, according to Mr. Coppola.
   That land is where the former Minute Maid site sits in the borough. The Hightstown Planning Board in May denied a business’ proposal for variances to expand its warehouse operations there.
   East Windsor residents received certified letters regarding Tuesday’s public hearing on the usage changes in zoning.
   The ordinance calls for rezoning 138.2 acres of developable land along the Route 33 corridor into a new corridor revitalization commercial zoning district.
   ”The State of New Jersey does require that when a municipal government is changing a zoning ordinance that we notify the affected property owners as well as all property owners within 200 feet so that is why you got the notice,” Mayor Mironov added. “We want to make sure you know what is going on.”
   The council also approved in a 6-0 vote a resolution, stating, “The township has recognized the need to plan for, and take steps to advance, the revitalization of the Route 33 corridor in East Windsor Township in order to advance the general health and welfare of the township and its residents” following the approval of the zoning ordinance.
   ”There is no action that will happen as a result of the passing of the ordinance,” Mayor Mironov told those gathered.
   ”It is a step in moving forward with the land uses that were proposed and recommended by the (Planning) board,” she later said, emphasizing the measure was “not an application of building.”
   Township resident Paul Martorano started the discussion. He said, “I think I speak for many of us that we are relieved and glad to hear what you just said. I think many of us were under the impression that a road was going to be going through our backyard.”
   He asked, “What do we have to watch for in the future that might be the first step of that starting to happen? I, for one, don’t want to be blindsided.”
   Mayor Mironov recommended a civic association be used to learn more or for residents to monitor the township’s ordinances and the council’s discussion items on meeting agendas.
   Mayor Mironov suggested residents who have not already signed up to receive the township e-news to consider doing so “they will be kept up on major events and projects in the town.”
   The ordinance was first introduced May 21.
   According to Mayor Mironov, the ordinance “grew out of a process” the township has been participating in over the last several years.
   The township was awarded a $100,000 planning grant from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to look at the Route 33 Corridor in East Windsor, which focuses on the area between Route 130 in East Windsor and Summit Street in Hightstown.
   ”We had a collaborative planning effort between the two communities to work with a planning consultant and to look at that entire corridor and see how we could enhance the look of that area and types of uses that were permitted along that area,” Mayor Mironov said.
   Areas that will are being considered for review included roadways, pedestrian linkages, greenery, landscaping and more.
   ”There are no applications of building plans, development applications that town is considering so there is no construction, no site plan,” Mayor Mironov said. “In the event that somebody submits an application or use on the property, it would have to go through a whole other process.”
   Part of that process would include notifying the property owners.
   ”This is not a change in roadways,” Mayor Mironov said, adding there are a lot of concepts and ideas being considered.
   According to Mayor Mironov in an email sent Wednesday, the Planning Board held a public hearing and voted to amend the township Master Plan on March 18. The board adopted the resolution, which “recommends that the township zoning ordinance provisions be formulated and adopted to govern the future development within the refined ‘Route 33 Corridor’ area as stated in the plan.”
   ”The plan that I reviewed at the request of the Planning Board when they were considering adoption as part of the Master Plan is a plan that sets the stage for potential major rezoning in the future in concert with Hightstown Borough,” Mr. Coppola said.
   He said the Planning Board realized upon reviewing this plan “that it had strategies,” which could “better the development over a long period of time.”
   ”Why are you targeting just this area here and not for a different area?” said Gojko Bursac, of East Windsor, adding can the money be used for “additional areas.”
   Mayor Mironov said that the grant it received from DRVPC would allow the township to “bring on a planning consultant” to look at the Route 33 Corridor and can only be applied to that area since it is a “dedicated fund.”
   The township was awarded another planning grant from DRVPC to review the area around the New Jersey Turnpike to relocate the interchange.
   ”The general idea is to make that area more attractive,” Mayor Mironov said.
   His daughter, Stana Buras, 9, decided she had her own question for the East Windsor mayor.
   ”Why would you all those stores up back there if you don’t even fill up these stores that are already here?” Stana asked.
   ”We are not putting anything anywhere,” Mayor Mironov said.
   Mayor Mironov told residents the area around the wetlands would remain “protected.”
   In other news, Mayor Mironov updated the public on the affordable housing trusts funds.
   ”The Appellate Division last Friday has set a series of requirements that the state must go through,” Mayor Mironov said. “They basically indicated that they may not seize the municipal trust fund monies at this point, and, basically, that they do not have the appropriate process.”
   The Appellate Division of state Superior Court issued an injunction May 13 that stayed the state’s attempted seizure of up to $164 million in municipal affordable housing trust funds, according to the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. A court hearing date was set for June 5 in Newark.
   According to Mayor Mironov, “all the right people” have not been notified.
   ”They have vacated all the letters that the Appellate had sent out,” Mayor Mironov said. “They told them that they needed to start all over again.”
   A timeline was provided by which people could respond and object, according to Mayor Mironov.
   ”At the end of the day, no money will be taken unless COAH actually meets and approves a determination by the director,” she stated.
   ”What this means is that the money that was anticipated in the fiscal year 2013 — of about $200 million — doesn’t exist, and the money . . . being anticipated in the fiscal year 2014 budget, of about $160 million, (which) has to be signed by June 30 does not exist,” Mayor Mironov said.