Bill Neff is leaving a legacy of good deeds in West Windsor.
By: Gwen Runkle
WEST WINDSOR When Bill Neff moved to the township 30 years ago, he had no intention of staying long.
He figured he’d be in town for three years tops before Union Carbide Corp., his employer at the time, transferred him again.
But not only did he end up staying, he also became a valuable asset to the community, serving on the township Planning Board for 13 years, five as chairman, championing the preservation of open space and becoming an all-around example of how one resident can make a difference.
And now, as he completes plans to move to Pennsylvania to be closer to family, township officials past and present along with family and friends are expected to honor him at a dinner tonight at the home of Michael Schuit, president of Friends of West Windsor Open Space.
"I am definitely going to miss this community," Mr. Neff said. "It has been fun to grow up with it. I know I’m not an early settler by any means, but I washed ashore and have made a lot of good friends here."
Mr. Neff, 62, hails from Cleveland and has traveled the world, serving in the Navy as a pilot from 1963 to 1967 and working for Union Carbide from 1969 to 1989 as an international marketing manager.
He has traveled to "at least 30 to 40 countries," including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Switzerland and Egypt, to name a few.
"And here West Windsor is, made up of these wonderful people," he said. "What makes West Windsor especially unique is its multi-ethnic diversity."
His international treks also inspired him to learn more about his own background. In 1990, he formed the Neff Family Historical Society, which now has more than 700 members from North America and Europe, and soon after began publishing Neff News, a newsletter with information about the Neff family primarily before 1800.
And it was this connection with his German ancestors’ farming background that led to his service on the township Planning Board.
"Having come from a rural, farming background, I identified with many of the farm issues arising in West Windsor in the 1980s over the right to farm," he said. After he made a speech supporting the right to farm without restrictions before the township’s governing body, Stanley Perrine, the mayor at the time, asked him to join the Planning Board.
While on the board, Mr. Neff helped shape much of the development and open space in the township and even holds the dubious distinction of having chaired the longest meeting in board history a 10-hour marathon dealing with Countryside, the predecessor to the controversial Toll Brothers development proposed off Bear Brook Road. The meeting ran from 7:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
But that meeting does not rank among the treasured memories of his experience on the board from 1980 to 1993.
"The idea of open-space preservation is what I’ve enjoyed the most," he said.
Two of the areas he is most proud of helping to preserve are the Cranbury Golf Course and the Grover Farm.
"We got 100 acres, the Cranbury Golf Course, from a developer for no cost, no tax dollars at all," he said. The township acquired the development rights of that property in exchange for transferring the rights to select properties on Route 1 over a 10-year period, he said.
As for the Grover Farm, he personally worked with the Grover family to preserve their land. "I remember sitting with Pete Grover and his wife, Florence, in their kitchen," he said.
Later, Mr. Neff was an advocate for the 1998 open-space tax referendum, served two years on the township’s Open Space Task Force and became a member of FOWWOS, serving as treasurer for three years.
He said he also is proud to have helped attract great commercial developers to the township, establish control of signage and develop a contribution system for developers to support township open space, infrastructure, transportation and volunteer organizations while on the Planning Board.
And he is proud of having a hand in shaping the appearance of developments like Carnegie Center and Nassau Park.
But he stressed such accomplishments would not have been possible without maintaining a "non-adversarial role with developers and property owners," which he hopes the Planning Board continues to do today.
Mr. Neff also served for 12 years on the Juvenile Conference Committee for West Windsor, served one year on the township Zoning Board of Adjustment and became the founder and publisher of the News Eagle, a weekly newspaper circulated in West Windsor and Plainsboro from 1997 to 2000.
He encourages other retired township residents to get involved with the community as well.
After retiring 12 years ago, "I have had a lot more time and better hours to spend on various projects," he said. "West Windsor has a great number of highly skilled retired people with a broad range of talents and the government should attempt to tap into that talent and encourage people to participate."
And while it will be hard to replace Mr. Neff here, the township’s loss is surely Pennsylvania’s gain, because as his wife, Barbara, said, "He’ll probably get involved somehow there, too."