Panel to focus on areas east of Route 130 near Davidsons Mill and Deans Rhode Hall roads.
By: Joseph Harvie
Township officials want to address the concerns of residents in the eastern section of town regarding issues such as stormwater management, truck traffic and historic preservation.
Mayor Frank Gambatese said Tuesday the township will set up a task force to take a look at issues concerning residents in the eastern section of town, near the border with Monroe Township and East Brunswick.
Residents of the area have been attending Township Council, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment meetings for more than a year, expressing concerns about issues like truck traffic, stormwater management and historic preservation in the area, and have set up the Eastern Villages Association, a citizens group that gives them a single voice when dealing with township boards.
Mayor Gambatese said the township will consider a resolution creating a new task force to consider these issues at its Feb. 28 meeting, which he said will be attended by members of the township Environmental Commission, the Board of Health, township police traffic officers and residents of the eastern section of town.
The mayor said he hopes the task force will help to stop the arguing that often occurs at Planning Board, Township Council and zoning board meetings, create a more open dialogue between the township and EVA members and examine some of the problems residents see in their neighborhood.
"The idea is to get the residents involved, have public hearings and address these issues that keep coming up," Mayor Gambatese said.
He said the task force would have a budget of $1,000 to hire an environmental engineer who would look at the issues residents bring up.
Among EVA’s main objectives is the preservation of the 220-acre Van Dyke farm and the farmhouse on its property, which dates back to the 18th century. Currently there is a plan to build 76 houses on the property.
Members have also complained that tractor-trailers have been traveling on local roads with 4-ton weight limits when not making local deliveries. The residents have also said that the trucks often get lost on the roads and make U-turns on private properties to travel back toward Route 535.
The residents have also raised concerns about warehouse development on Davidsons Mill Road that they feel is causing flooding in uplands of the Pigeon Swamp State Park.
The residents have said that the warehouses east of the N.J. Turnpike, such as the Opus complex, Wakefern and CNJ have their water retention systems emptying into 36-inch culverts that travel under the Turnpike to the west and empty out in what they say were once uplands in the Pigeon Swamp State Park.
Bill Klimowitz, a founding member of EVA, said the task force is a good idea, but he said he would have seen it set up a bit earlier.
Mr. Klimowitz said that EVA is currently trying to stop a proposal for 1.8 million square feet of warehousing to be built by Trammell Crow South Brunswick at the intersection of Route 535 and Davidsons Mill Road. He said he would have liked to have seen the task force set up prior to the application reaching the Planning Board.
"It’s a good step, but why not have them study (the drainage problem) right now," Mr. Klimowitz said. "Or tell the warehouse people that there is this problem. They should have studied it before it gets approved and they add water to the system."