By Anne Levin

A resolution adopted by Princeton Council at its February 23 meeting formally enters the town into an agreement with Montgomery Township to develop a Watershed Improvement Plan for the Lower Millstone River watershed.

According to a memorandum from Deputy Administrator Deanna Stockton, Princeton staff have been taking part in meetings organized by The Watershed Institute since 2024, and spearheaded by Montgomery Township, for the municipalities that lie within the Lower Millstone River watershed. In addition to Montgomery Township, these include Hopewell Township, Franklin Township, South Brunswick Township, Manville Borough, Hopewell Borough, and Rocky Hill Borough.

The focus has been on working collaboratively to create a plan for the Lower Millstone watershed.

“With the new municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) regulations that were made effective by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on January 1, 2023, the municipalities are subject to a new regulation to create a Watershed Improvement Plan for each of our HUC-14 [hydrologic unit code] watersheds,” the memorandum reads. “As watershed boundaries, including the Lower Millstone River, do not coincide with municipal or county boundaries, a collaborative approach is needed to holistically review and plan for stormwater quality improvements within a watershed.”

Council authorized the town’s participation in a similar collaboration last March, for the regional Stony Brook Watershed Improvement Plan, an arrangement that Councilman David Cohen commented was a favorable one. Cohen also praised the new resolution.

“The latest DEP requirements require all municipalities to generate regional watershed improvement plans. But watersheds do not respect municipal boundaries,” he said. “So it’s something that is almost nonsensical unless you do it in collaboration with neighboring municipalities.”

Councilman Leighton Newlin added that the reason for the plan is to reduce pollution coming into local waterways from the Millstone River.

In the case of the Stony Brook plan, each municipality contracted directly with One Water Consulting rather than utilizing a lead agency and interlocal agreements, the memorandum reads. Montgomery Township has assumed the lead agency role and has requested interlocal agreement with those municipalities that will collaborate on the Lower Millstone plan. Through the resolution last March, Princeton offered its formal commitment to participate before the interlocal agreement was available.

The total contract amount is $254,300, with Princeton’s share set at $8,370.