Activity Report
March 2003

• ROUTE 92:
  An organizational meeting was held on March 24, chaired by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and attended by Laura Lynch, Ed, members of No 92, and other township representatives. We will hold a press event soon. The DEIS will be released at the end of April. Steve Masticola of No 92 has created a web site, http://www.no92.com, which links to NJSC and CJSC web sites. Because the DEIS will be released at the same time that the Penns Neck Area DEIS will be released, we will be focusing on the latter and will let Tri-State and others take the lead on the Route 92 DEIS. At the last NJSC Excomm, several volunteers agreed to read parts of the Route 92 DEIS; Kelly offered to read it, too.

• SCHISLER FARM:
  There have been behind-the-scenes negotiations between the Township and the landowner, and the Township has funds to pay for the farm, which they want to keep as open space. Because the parcel hasn't gone through development plan approval, the site isn't as expensive as it would have been. The Township has put up as many obstacles to development there as possible.

  On 10 April, the Township Planning Board turned down the development application.

• POLE FARM/LAWRENCE HOPEWELL BIKE TRAIL:
  Mike got a response to the letter he sent. Because there has been a lot of support for the bike trail, the trail will be built even without a master plan for the park. The response was from Donna Lewis, the Planning Director for Mercer County.

• MATRIX:
  The LOI has still not been released. Ed went to the State Planning Commission's Smart Growth Office and looked at the designated Town Center document; the Matrix was part of the development area in the plan, and the State signed off on it. So, it will be difficult to fight this on State Plan grounds. The deal was made in 1998. There is a planning board meeting on April 10. Mike and Ed will go to Washington Township tomorrow morning to look at the site plans. Preliminary approval has been given for one of the warehouses.

• PENNS NECK AREA EIS:
  The DEIS will be released at the end of April. Before that, there will be two synthesis sessions on April 9 and 14, during which the goals and objectives, the alignments, and other details, will be analyzed. The idea is for the Roundtable to come to agreement on some of the contentious issues. But the Sierra Club will not deviate from its stance of protecting the environment and speaking out against any alignment that causes environmental damage. Details from the DEP on the long-eared owl have been sent by Jon Carnegie (of the Project Team) to Richard Barrett (of the Millstone Bypass Alert coalition), and Laura requested a copy. The Central Jersey Group will focus on making comments on the DEIS, including asking for a wildlife survey.