The West Windsor Township's open space preservation policy is supported by an open space tax levied on the assessed value of privately owned property. This tax was initially approved in a 1993 referendum setting a tax rate of 1 cent per $100 of assessed value. It was primarily justified at the time in order to acquire the Grover farm as a potential school site. The tax rate subsequently rose to 7 cents but more recently was lowered to 5 cents and then to 3 cents in the November 2006 referendum following the upward revaluation of private property but still generating roughly the same total revenue as the earlier 7 and 5 cent tax rates - approximately $1.5 million annually.
In 1994, on the advice of a consultant, the Planning Board approved a proposal for the Township to acquire as open space some 91 residentially-zoned properties lager than 5 acres. With later input from FOWWOS, the list of appropriate properties was expanded to a total of 99. To date (Spring 2009), 42 of those 99 properties have indeed been acquired.
With the primary objective of assisting the Township in acquiring appropriate targeted open space properties, FOWWOS is authorized to accept tax-deductible private donations but it can also independently seek public funding for open space acquisition, and has done so in specific cases..
Most of West Windsor's open space tax revenues are earmarked for additional land acquisitions. However, the November, 2006 referendum provided for an increase in the proportion of those tax revenues that could be spent on open space "maintenance and development", raising that proportion from "up to 10%" to "up to 25%". FOWWOS publicly opposed this provision on the ground that it would reduce the ability of the Township to acquire desirable properties as open space.
However, when the 25% "maintenance and development" allowance was approved, FOWWOS sought the opportunity to work with the Township's Administration in developing maintenance and development proposals on selected open space properties. The Administration welcomed this involvement and invited trustees of FOWWOS, with assistance from members of the Township's Shade Tree Commission, to meet regularly with Township officials to review draft Individual Parcel Plans (IPPs) for those properties that FOWWOS felt warranted specific maintenance and development budgets. A consulting Environmental Engineer has also been involved in the process. As of March 2009, 10 such properties have been the subject of formal IPPs.
-R.J. Slinn
(March 2009)
Ron Slinn is a trustee of FOWWOS (as of 2009) and has been active in the IPP process.