"It recommended that Devel avoid impacting a 300-foot wetlands buffer in the Kettle Run Road site."
My little 1,000 sq ft home is all by itself and my property includes wetlands with a 300 foot buffer. Kind of surprised that a 270-home development wouldn't require an even larger buffer, and it's only "recommended" that they respect it. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
The maximum wetlands buffer for development projects within the nine Pinelands Management Areas is 300 feet.
There are two avenues for reducing the buffer, which include seeking a Waiver of Strict Compliance, under very specific conditions, or working through the Pinelands Buffer Delineation Model. The model takes into account all site specific information, including proximity to existing development, proximity to known T&E species and habitats, proximity to public land and other factors. After completing the model, a numerical value is calculated and the required buffer is determined by that value.
Knowing the area fairly well, I believe it will be very difficult to demonstrate to the Commission that they should yield on the 300 feet buffer, except perhaps in the vicinity of the old airport.
