Activity Report
October 2002

Pam Hersh, the Director of the Office of Community Affairs for Princeton University, responded to our letter, which also appeared in the Princeton Packet.

She wrote, "We feel that this project has succeeded in fulfilling a challenging goal -- that of being sensitive to environmental issues, while responding to the needs of affordable housing in the Princeton communities."

She went on to say that "our tree mitigation strategy" includes replacing 500 trees on site, plus 3800 shrubs and bushes, moving construction to the west to avoid the stream corridor (only after people complained, apparently), hiring a wildlife expert to determine that no rare birds would be affected, and reforesting portions of University and Township lands.

She also wrote that the detention basins will adequately handle runoff, and stated that the plan is environmentally sound because the geothermal heating system burns no fossil fuel, is close to campus and therefore encourages walking, and will include a shuttle system for residents.

What she didn't explain was why that particular site was chosen, nor why the wells had to go there, which are questions we asked in the letter.

Contact: Laura Lynch

On September 23, a day-long In-Progress Review was held for the public to review what the Penns Neck Area EIS Partners' Roundtable and Project Team had accomplished to date. The opportunity for written comments was provided, and the Central Group responded with a letter to Helen Neuhaus (the project's facilitator). Ed Pfeiffer, not writing as a Sierran, also provided his own letter.

Meanwhile, members of the Millstone Bypass Alert (MBA) Coalition got together to submit a letter to the DOT, with copies to the Governor, local newspapers, and others, to request an extension of the December DEIS deadline. Our primary concern, voiced in the In-Progress Reveiw comments, and to the DOT, is that we have spent approximately one year discussing roadway alternatives, yet we have spent almost no time on environmental, historical, and cultural aspects, which cannot properly be analyzed in the remaining two months. At the most recent Roundtable meeting on October 10, the Sierra Club and other MBA members voiced concern over what appears to be a rushed and biased process. At the end of the meeting, the project team leaders announced that they would consult with the DOT to extend the project deadline.

We are happy to report that on October 22, the DOT extended the DEIS deadline by four months.

Contact: Laura Lynch

The Office of Smart Growth heard Princeton Township's defense of its zoning overlays on November 1. The overlay for the site closer to the Regional Center can stay, but the one farther from the Center must be eliminated, the Office of Smart Growth advised. It was also recommended that Princeton review its Master Plan and submit it to the Office of Smart Growth for approval. Princeton Township has not decided what its final action will be. For more on the hearing, go to http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5953388&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=425695&rfi=6.