Byram gets roadwork grant but is denied loan for dog park

Byram Township will receive a $190,500 roadwork grant, but was denied a CO Johnson Park improvement loan.

Township manager Joseph Sabatini told the township council at its Nov. 1 meeting that Byram has received the 2022 New Jersey Department of Transportation grant for the upper phase of Tamarack Road.

However, Sabatini said, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres denied the township the loan it sought for a dog park, phase 1 of improvements planned for CO Johnson Park. He said the main reason for the denial is that Byram is not classified or located in an “overburdened community.”

Communities with this designation are 35 percent low-income households, 40 percent minority or state-recognized tribal community households, and 45 percent households with limited English proficiency, he said.

Deputy Mayor Raymond Bonker said the “overburdened community” definition and “environmental justice criteria are in and of themselves unjust.”

Lake Management Plan

Mayor Alex Rubenstein said the council has put off authorizing the scope of work for the Lake Management Plan until representatives from the Highlands Council and Princeton Hydro attend a council meeting and discuss their proposal.

Rubenstein said the Highlands Council has authorized $150,000 for a study regarding a lake management plan for all the watersheds that touch Byram township. He said the township needs a lake management plan to get grant money.

Roseff said the Highlands Council should deliver something the township needs, such as storm water management and shoreline and stream bank stabilization.

He said the Environmental Commission wants to be involved in future Highlands Council studies. The commission was not included in the water conservation study, he said.

Councilwoman Cris Franco said the planning board has reviewed the township’s Water Use Conservation Management Plan.