Plainsboro Township officials are in the process of finding a new township attorney to replace long-time attorney Joseph Stonaker, who is retiring after more than 35 years of service.##M:[more]##
The township has already sent out request for proposals for legal services to find an attorney in time for the new year. Proposals are due Tuesday, October 16, at 11 a.m.
It won’t be easy to say good-bye, says Plainsboro Administrator Robert Sheehan. “The committee and I discussed how we would go about replacing him, realizing that we really can’t replace him.”
Stonaker, who announced over the summer he was retiring effective December 31, has been part of the action in Plainsboro for a long time. From the legal work he performed in order to move the Plainsboro Preserve along to the planning process for Town Center, he has been involved with progress and growth in the township for more than 30 years.
Stonaker said he became interested in pursuing a law career as a senior at Lafayette College. After serving in the military, he enrolled in Georgetown University’s law school. Originally, he was interested in labor law, and when he was already in practice, he happened to get a substitute position on the zoning board in Lawrence Township, where he formerly resided.
He then became interested in zoning and took a few courses in urban planning at Rutgers University. He has represented many municipalities, including Lawrence Township and plannign boards in West Windsor, Monroe, Washington, and East Windsor.
But Stonaker, who got involved in Plainsboro first as the Zoning Board attorney in 1969, said he decided to work here not only because the opportunity presented itself, but also because it was a developing community with some interesting zoning challenges at the time.
“I had more responsibility in Plainsboro, and I came there at a time when it was just starting to develop,” he said. “Cranbury’s been the same way, but that came onto development much later,” he adding, referencing his more than 25-year career as Cranbury’s Planning Board attorney as well.
Stonaker soon went from Zoning Board attorney in Plainsboro in 1969, to Planning Board attorney a year later, to township attorney four years later.
During his tenure in Plainsboro, Stonaker was instrumental in bringing the township into compliance with affordable housing requirements.
And one of the things he said he really feels good about is his work in helping the township to preserve over 1,”000 acres of land in the Plainsboro Preserve.
“He’s just been a part of practically every major initiative that we’ve been involved with over the last 30 years,” said Mayor Peter Cantu.
“We’ve worked together for a long time. He’s always been willing to offer positive criticism if he thought we were not moving in the right direction, and we respect that.”
Stonaker and his partner and wife, Janice, made a good team, as they worked on some of the major initiatives together, Cantu said. She also was involved with litigation defense as well, and contributed to the community until her death in 2001, he added.
Stonaker, who lives in Princeton and will be turning 75, said he decided in the beginning of this year that he would retire because “it’s about time.”
He said he will spend his retirement doing volunteer work, including at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, trying to audit some courses at Princeton, traveling and spending time with his children and grandchildren.
He has already retired from other municipalities, and will also retire from representing the Mercer County Planning Board on December 31.
Plainsboro’s next major planning and zoning involvement is with the hospital project, and the timing added to Stonaker’s decision to retire now.
“You miss being part of the action, and I’ve been part of the action over a long period of time,” he said.
