Chapter 3: Pp 1 –

3.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT New Jersey Turnpike Interchange 6 –9 Widening Executive Order No. 215 Environmental Impact Statement 3.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT 3.1 Introduction This section provides a description of the existing environmental resources and conditions (baseline) in the vicinity of the Project Corridor for the proposed Interchange 6 to Interchange 9 Widening Project (the Proposed Project). Existing environmental resources described herein are based on conditions as they existed in either 2005 or 2006, depending on the specific date of the field work performed and/or the secondary data sources used for assessing each resource. The descriptions of existing conditions presented in this section provide the context for assessment of the environmental impacts of the Proposed Project (discussed in Section 4.0). Specifically, the following environmental disciplines are presented in this section: x Land Use and Zoning x Socioeconomics x Environmental Justice x Farmlands x Community Facilities x Parks, Open Space and Recreational Facilities x Cultural Resources x Visual Quality and Aesthetics x Soils and Geology x Water Resources x Floodplains x Ecology x Infrastructure x Solid Waste x Contaminated Materials x Traffic and Transportation x Air Quality x Noise and Vibration This section is subdivided into separate sections based on each of the above-stated environmental disciplines. In turn, each separate section is further organized into separate subsections that generally provide an introduction first, followed by a description of the data sources and methodology used for studying each resource, and finally, followed by the actual existing conditions within the Project Corridor. 3.2 Regional Environment The Project Corridor extends from a point approximately three miles south of the interconnection with the Pearl Harbor Memorial Turnpike Extension (PHMTE) at Interchange 6 in Mansfield Township, Burlington County, to a point just south of Interchange 9 in East Brunswick Township, Middlesex County, for a total length of approximately 35 miles (Figure 3-1). It traverses the following central New Jersey communities in south-to-north order: x Mansfield, Bordentown and Chesterfield Townships, in Burlington County; x Hamilton, Washington and East Windsor Townships, in Mercer County; and 3-1 Legend Proposed Project Corridor County Boundary Municipalities Interchange SOMERSET 9 HUNTERDON COUNTY MILLTOWN COUNTY BORO EAST BRUNSWICK TWP SOUTH BRUNSWICK TWP 1 MIDDLESEX 31 206 COUNTY Interchange 8A MERCER MONROE TWP CRANBURY COUNTY TWP 9 EAST WINDSOR TWP 130 Interchange 8 e ik p 95 WASHINGTON rn Tu TWP y e MONMOUTH rs HAMILTON TWP Je COUNTY ew N Interchange Pennsylvania 7A BORDENTOWN 195 TWP OCEAN Interchange 7 Pear l COUNTY Ha CHESTERFIELD T rb ur o r npik M TWP e emorial Ex te nsion Interchange 6 MANSFIELD TWP 295 PROJECT CORRIDOR 206 BURLINGTON New Jersey Turnpike Interchange 6 to 9 Widening Burlington, Mercer and Middlesex Counties COUNTY Executive Order No. 215 Environmental Impact Statement NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE AUTHORITY FIGURE 3-1 05102.5 NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE Miles New Jersey Turnpike Interchange 6 –9 Widening Executive Order No. 215 Environmental Impact Statement x Cranbury, Monroe, South Brunswick and East Brunswick Townships, and the Borough of Milltown, in Middlesex County. The Project Corridor and its surrounding region has undergone and is continuing to experience a rapid transformation from a rural environment to a more suburban one, as urbanization and population growth have spread into central New Jersey, situated to the northeast of Philadelphia and its older suburbs and to the southwest of New York City and its older suburbs. The southern end of the Project Corridor is primarily agricultural or undeveloped land, with widely scattered villages and isolated residential subdivisions located mainly on the southbound side of the Turnpike. While agriculture is still an important land use within the Project Corridor, commercial development, primarily in the form of warehousing and distribution centers, becomes more dominant in Cranbury Township and to the north. In the northern end of the Project Corridor, East Brunswick Township and Milltown can be characterized as older suburban municipalities. Although there are agricultural and undeveloped lands remaining in East Brunswick, very little is located within the Project Corridor. Milltown, an old industrial center, has remained almost unchanged since its founding in 1816. 3.3 Land Use and Zoning 3.3.1 Introduction Land use refers to the activity that occurs on land and within the structures that occupy it. Types of land use include: residential; commercial; industrial; public and semi-public institutional; transportation, communications and utilities; open space; and vacant land. These basic types of land use can be further broken down where appropriate (e.g., single-family residential, two-family residential or multi-family residential; retail commercial, office commercial or warehouse commercial, etc.). A municipality’s zoning ordinance controls the use, density, and bulk (i.e., the size of the building in relation to the size of the lot) of development within the municipality. A zoning ordinance is divided into two parts: zoning text and zoning maps. The text establishes zoning districts and sets forth the regulations governing land use and development in each district. The maps depict the location of the zoning districts. The three basic types of zoning districts are residential, commercial, and industrial. As with land use, these basic categories can be further broken down (e.g., lower-, medium- and higher- density residential; neighborhood commercial, highway commercial or office commercial; light industrial or heavy industrial). This section provides a basic description of land use and zoning in the Project Corridor and the public policies that govern them. Following a general overview of the three counties comprising the Project Corridor, each municipality is first discussed in terms of land use, followed by a discussion of zoning within each municipality. Although a general overview of land use conditions is presented for each municipality as a whole, the focus of the municipal discussions is on the immediate Project Corridor. Each county and municipality is presented in a south-to-north order. 3.3.2 Data Sources and Methodology Each of the 11 municipalities located in the Project Corridor were visited. Local planning and community development officials were interviewed, as necessary, and master plans, zoning maps and any special studies were obtained in order to inventory current conditions and trends. A field reconnaissance of the Project Corridor within each municipality was conducted to inventory specific existing land use. 3-3 New Jersey Turnpike Interchange 6 –9 Widening Executive Order No. 215 Environmental Impact Statement The Project Corridor for the analysis of land use and zoning is defined as the area within 500 feet of either side of the existing Turnpike mainline right-of-way between the southern terminus located south of Interchange 6 and the northern terminus near Interchange 9. The Project Corridor also generally includes an equivalent distance around the Turnpike interchanges, except the area around Interchange 8, where an expanded area was considered to incorporate potential toll plaza relocation alternatives that have been studied. General land use patterns in the 11 affected municipalities are first described. A brief description of each of the municipalities is also provided. Within the Project Corridor, a more specific description of existing land use patterns, based on the field reconnaissance, is then also provided. Each of the 11 municipalities encompassing the Project Corridor has adopted its own zoning ordinance. Because each has its own unique designations and descriptions for a given zoning category, a composite zoning map has been prepared that standardizes the various local zoning categories into a uniform zoning classification, allowing for consistency of presentation in the EIS. Any state planning efforts or initiatives within the 11 municipalities resulting from the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan (March, 2001) are also identified and discussed. 3.3.3 Land Use Overview 3.3.3.1 Burlington County Burlington County, the largest of New Jersey’s 21 counties in terms of area, encompasses a range of land use across its span of south central New Jersey, from pineland forests and farmlands to historic villages and new residential subdivisions. The county’s total land mass is 805 square miles. Many of its 40 municipalities are heavily concentrated in the northwest side of the county, along the Delaware River. Located south of Chatsworth are the “Burlington Plains”, a large mass of land covered with bush-like growth of scrub-oak, pine and laurel, unique to the east coast. Also located beneath large portions of the county is the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, the largest freshwater aquifer east of the Mississippi River. Most of the land in the county is coastal and alluvial plain with little relief. There are a few anomalous hills, however, and one of them, Arneys Mount, with an elevation of approximately 260 feet above sea level, is the highest point in the county, as well as all of south central New Jersey. The low point in the county is sea level along the Delaware River. The Project Corridor between the southern terminus at Assiscunk Creek (near M.P. 48.0) and Crosswicks Creek (near M.P. 57.0) is located within Burlington County. 3.3.3.2 Mercer County Mercer County comprises a total of 226 square miles and is 16th in size of New Jersey’s 21 counties. More than 27,000 acres (19 percent of the county’s total land area) is protected open space, and 1,751 acres of open space have been preserved since 2004. The county is generally flat and low-lying, with a few hills located closer to the Delaware River. One of them, Baldpate Mountain near Pennington, has the highest elevation in the county, at 480 feet above sea level. The lowest point in the county is sea level along the Delaware River.

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