The township’s professional consultants have agreed with the developer who is seeking approval to revamp the former Acme shopping center on Route 571 that creating trails through the Acme Woods would not be feasible.
But one council member is calling for the Township Council to look into the matter. Councilman Charles Morgan called upon his council colleagues to reaffirm the policy “we believe we implemented” through the adoption of the township’s redevelopment plan, which depicts trails going through the woods in the back of the shopping center, he said.
The West Windsor Planning Board is scheduled to hold its third hearing on the site plan application by Cyzner Properties for the 13.5-acre Windsor Plaza shopping center site that once housed the Acme grocery store on Wednesday, January 12. The application has been deemed the first major project in the 350-acre Princeton Junction redevelopment area.
During the last meeting on November 30, however, Cyzner officials testified that they met with township consultants on the site of the Acme Woods to show them how the detention basin has been drained and cleaned up and will function as it was originally designed.
While there, township consultants testified that they saw some pedestrians walking through various trails that already exist on site, but found that creating formal trails would disturb the natural wildlife in the area.
The township’s officials agreed with Cyzner’s consultants that trails would have to cross ditches and that they would disturb wetlands in the area. The township’s professionals also said they felt the Acme Woods should remain as is because of wetlands, permitting, and maintenance issues.
Councilwoman Linda Geevers, the council’s liaison to the Planning Board, raised the issue during the Planning Board hearing that the council’s redevelopment plan had called for the trails, but officials told her that not everything in the redevelopment plan would be developed as conceived and that it would evolve as time progressed.
But Morgan said that the council had established policy in its redevelopment plan by depicting the trails. “It seems to me there is not significant attention being paid to our prerogative,” he said, adding that he felt the council could try to urge that the trail be included.
Geevers, who was cautious not to discuss the pending matter outside of the hearing, said that when the redevelopment plan was being drafted, the township did not ask environmental consultants to look too closely into the issue.
