To the Editor:

This is directed to elected and other officials, in reaction to the article on page 1 in Town Topics, July 6, 2022, regarding West Windsor’s (WW) plans for a huge (ultimately 5.5 million square feet) warehouse development on Route 1 at Clarksville Road. This includes the WW Planning Board’s approval of 3 million square feet for three warehouses encompassing 461 loading docks and 507 trailer parking spaces. This is only the first phase of the warehouse development. The second phase proposes another four warehouses, not yet approved by the WW Planning Board.

There have been several areas of concern raised, including by two dissenting members of the WW Planning Board and WW residents. However, there has not been as much attention as necessary to air quality degradation from diesel fumes of the expected number of trucks. Air pollution (as well as increased stormwater) does not respect municipal boundaries. 

I write not only as a resident, but also as a former longtime member of both the Princeton Board of Health and Princeton Environmental Commission, as well as a decade each employed at NJDEP and as a Princeton University researcher.

This is a regional public health and safety threat which requires input action of neighboring municipalities and Mercer County officials, as well as the state NJDEP and NJDOT. 

I hope you will raise this with relevant officials at the municipal, county, and state levels in your official capacities and give input at this stage of the project when it is most effective rather than later. 

Thanks for your usual diligence.  

Grace Sinden
Ridgeview Circle