MANCHESTER – Members of the Township Environmental Commission recently discussed their first glimpse at a document outlining Manchester’s many natural resources.
The Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) serves as a comprehensive update to one prepared in 1992 which was last updated in 2005. This NRI is prepared on behalf of the Manchester Township Environmental Commission and the Manchester Township Council by Heyer Gruel & Associates.
There are two important benefits included in the NRI, one being that it provides a point-in-time snapshot of the environmental resources and features that exist in a community. It is not a policy statement or a plan.
It is a list of the resources in the community and will also serve as a comprehensive source of information related to a community’s environment. The NRI will inform the public and municipal officials, catalogs the unique ecology of a place, and assists in tracking changes over time.
Beyond its informational value, the real benefit of an NRI comes through its use as a planning tool, utilized by the community to evaluate, and possibly revise planning documents, policy initiatives, and local ordinances to better protect existing natural resources and to improve the health of the natural environment.
It was designed to serve as a useful tool for the township’s Environmental Commission, Planning Board, Zoning Board and governing body as well as to the public at large.
NRIs are often the basis for resource protection ordinances in a community. It would be used to guide land use planning and could improve the likelihood of successful long-term land development because it would assist the formulation of policies that balance environmental realities with the needs of human settlement according to the draft NRI that the commission has been reviewing.
“I read it cover to cover a couple times but I will probably have to read it a couple more times because it has a lot of information especially about well head and forest areas,” Commission member Mary Demarest Paraan said during the commission’s recent Zoom meeting.
The draft document’s mixed use of metric and English units was a pet peeve of commission member Bill Foor. “As you go through it, it was apparent it was a paste and cut job and no one took the time to clean that up. I was also disappointed by the sections about the base over here, Naval Engineering Station hasn’t existed for almost 20 years.”
“I did find it very informative though,” Foor said adding that there was need to verify some of the information included in the draft.
Commission member Rory Wells asked for more time to review the draft. “I’m not sure what is not in there that maybe should be or if there should be an expanded section on the animals or those sorts of things. I’m glad we have it. Having it is better than nothing.”
Peggy Middaugh, the chairwoman of the environmental commission stressed that “this is our first look at it so we have time. We are going to look at how we can get a public process together so they can give their comments and we provide those comments and get another draft back.”
“This will be used for input into the (Township) master plan which is being reviewed for at least a couple of months. We have some time to get these comments back to reread it and delve into it more,” Middaugh said.
“There are people out there in the public that have information about this that we don’t who might have more experience looking at these kinds of reports or even the natural resources out there such as plants and animals that they are familiar with out there,” Middaugh added.
“I know I don’t have the background to really comment on the accuracy of this thing and if we can get the input of those who this is their business that would be excellent,” Foor said.
Middaugh noted that the document included a map which showed where endangered species were. “It looked like everything was endangered species except for a few that weren’t but most of it was this green color that said endangered and I have a hard time believing that this is accurate.”
She also had some questions about contamination sites listed in the draft. “One was listed on Lacey Road in the Whiting Shopping Center, it is an active site.”
Middaugh recommended that secretary Lauren Frazee send the items identified for correction to the consultant so they could be amended prior to the NRI being presented to the public for their input. “We probably need to have the consultant with us for a meeting to talk to them about it so we can ask them questions.,”
Foor pointed out that due to conditions of their budget which would only allow for one meeting with the consultant, it would be better to have them visit the commission after comments were provided by residents.
The NRI draft will be available for viewing on the township website so the public can review it. There will be a meeting that will seek public input on the draft in December or January.
When Manchester prepared its initial NRI in 1992, it was prior to the development of geographic information systems (GIS) and available federal, state, county and local GIS data. In 2005, the NRI was updated to provide environmental resource mapping and data pertaining to habitat for threatened and endangered species, known contaminated sites, areas subject to the 300-foot buffer rule (as defined in the state stormwater management rules), surface water quality standards and well head protection areas.
Members of the commission noted in the NRI draft that it is intended to meticulously compile and update all data sources used in the preparation of the 1992 and 2005 NRIs to better inform land use policy and to base land use decision-making with an understanding of the underlying environmental conditions upon which all development occurs.
