Green Acres Diversion

On Monday, April 3, 2023, at 7:00 pm, the Municipality of Princeton held a Public Scoping Hearing for a required Green Acres Parkland Diversion in the Main Meeting Room at 400 Witherspoon Street.  Written public comment will be accepted for two weeks after the Scoping Hearing, until April 17, 2023.

The Municipal Complex Building at 400 Witherspoon Street is partially built on a parcel that is designated parkland, known as Community Park South. Because this building and its parking areas serve purposes beyond recreation and open space, these portions of the Community Park South parcel must undergo a state legal process called a diversion, which will remove the designation of parkland from those areas. Though the parking areas will ultimately no longer be designated as parkland, their availability as parking to access Community Park South will remain the same. The three acres to be diverted are outlined in the map above, in red.

The state diversion process requires the Municipality to create a compensation plan to replace parkland that was lost from the construction of the Municipal Complex Building, resulting in a net increase in parkland. A draft of the compensation plan will be presented for public comment at a Public Scoping Hearing and posted here after the Public Scoping Hearing.

Public comment will be accepted during the Scoping Hearing. Written public comment should be submitted to:

EMAIL: engineering@princetonnj.gov

BY MAIL:
Princeton Municipality
c/o Cindy Taylor, Open Space Manager
400 Witherspoon Street
Princeton, NJ 08540

Copies of written comments shall also be sent to:

EMAIL: maude.snyder@dep.nj.gov (email is preferred)

BY MAIL:
NJ DEP Office of Transactions and Public Land Administration
Public Land Compliance Section
Attention: Mercer County Compliance/Maude Snyder
401 East State Street7th Floor
Mail Code 401-07, P.O. Box 420
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0420 

Questions should be directed to Cindy Taylor, Open Space Manager, at 609-921-7077.

Links to additional information:

NJDEP Green Acres Program: https://dep.nj.gov/greenacres/

NJ Administrative Code, Green Acres Regulations: https://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/rules/njac7_36.pdf

NJDEP Office of Transactions and Public Land Administration: https://dep.nj.gov/otpla/

NJDEP Office of NJDEP Office of Transactions and Public Land Administration, ROSI information: https://dep.nj.gov/otpla/rosi/