There have been a lot of new faces around West Windsor since 2000, as its population increased about 20 percent in only half a decade. The township saw an estimated increase of 4,”372 people, or 20 percent of the population, between 2000 and 2006, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.##M:[more]##
The Census Bureau estimates also show that the township’s population in 1990 was only 16,”021. In 2000, it was 21,”907, and estimates for 2006 show the population at 26,”907, although the next official census will not take place until 2010.
In Plainsboro, the population increased by 5 percent between 2000 and 2006, going from 20,”215 to 21,”213, an increase of 998 people.
West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh says that such a dramatic population increase in that time period has to do with people moving into new housing that had already been approved to be built before the turn of the century.
Under the state Municipal Land Use Law, “we cannot stop developers from coming, as long as they follow the ordinances,” Hsueh says. In fact, West Windsor enacted an ordinance in the 1990s that attepted to limit development by tying it schedule of road improvements over a 20-year period. The law was ruled unconstitutional in the courts when challenged by developers and landowners.
