More silt than originally anticipated will be removed from the Grovers Mill Pond, which has been undergoing a dredging since August.##M:[more]##
The Township Council approved an additional $150,”000 to be used to remove approximately 15,”000 more cubic feet of silt from the bottom of the pond after the Army Corps of Engineers told township officials more sediment needed to be dredged.
“They are fast approaching 50,”000 cubic yards, which is what they were supposed to do under their contract,” said Business Administrator Chris Marion during the council’s October 6 meeting. “Based on the size and scope of the project area, they need to do additional dredging.”
He said that when the township entered into the project agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers, there was additional funding available in the township’s capital bond ordinance that has not yet been used. He asked council to amend the budget to reflect an additional $150,”000 to remove the additional silt and finish the job. The extra dredging will not delay the project, and there will be no changes in the timeline, he said.
The long-awaited removal of the sediment that has built up to a three-foot high layer at the bottom of the pond over the past 250 years began in August, and is set for completion at the end of this month. Preparations had been underway for months, but the contractor, Select Transportation Inc. of Ohio, could not begin work until August because of wildlife restrictions.
The $4.6 million project entails “wet dredging,” which leaves the water in the pond intact. The project does not entail deepening the pond, nor changing the contours of the pond, but rather the removal of the sediment using a flexible pipe, which acts like a vacuum cleaner with a blade. It sucks in all of the sediment and pushes it into the containment area in Community Park.
By the end of November, trailers and all work equipment should be removed, and fencing will be moved to the other side of the macadam path so that it only encompasses the dredged materials in the containment area. The material dredged from the pond will remain there for a year, while it dries out.
AV Position, Sewer Bond Approved. In other council business, the Township Council unanimously approved an ordinance on October 6 creating the position for a video/audio specialist to ensure that council meetings and other special events around West Windsor will be broadcast on the local cable channel.
In 2008, officials budgeted $2,”500 to meet the demand for taping all of the council’s meetings. Under the cable agreement approved by both West Windsor and Plainsboro townships with the WW-P school district, the station manager splits time between the three parties, and the two townships fund his salary. The school district supplies equipment and a portion of his time. The station manager handles the municipal and school programming.
Lately, West Windsor’s meetings have been taped by volunteers, but prior to that the station manager was spending a lot of time in West Windsor. The township will advertise the position and hopes to get a pool of individuals interested in covering the meetings. The people who the township hires will be called upon on an as-needed, per diem basis.
The wage plan in the ordinance calls for the workers to be paid between $50 and $200 per meeting, depending on the meeting’s length, and subject to the discretion of Marion and other staff members, in order to provide flexibility.
Council also unanimously adopted a $6.7 million bond ordinance to pay for a variety of sewer projects for this year, including work to be done at the Southfield Road pump station, South Post Road pump station, Heatherfield pump station, the Meadow Road sewer project, and emergency sewer repairs.
It also introduced 13 ordinances that would rezone 80 percent of the township’s land. Planning Board officials had hashed out the ordinances after much discussion and public input during meetings throughout the winter and summer. Notices will be sent out to residents in the affected areas for the public hearings on the ordinances, scheduled for on Monday, October 27.
The council also adopted two ordinances that establish sign standards for business districts in the Princeton Junction Overlay.
