Council pauses endorsement of ELSSA force‑main after residents press for tree protections

Engineers from Remington & Engineers presented an application to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday for a proposed ELSSA sanitary sewer force‑main that would run roughly 11,365 feet and connect to the township wastewater plant. Mr. Robert Biller, the Remington consultant, described the effort as an important infrastructure upgrade intended to dualize failing ducts, increase hydraulic capacity and reduce energy costs at the pump station.

The project team said the alignment uses mostly trenchless technology where it crosses major highways and waterways, with a single open‑trench excavation at a highway location. Funding work and design are underway and the team said they have begun permit outreach and expect construction to start later this year if permits and financing come together.

During public comment, multiple residents and leaders of Friends of Colonial Lake urged the council to require protections for mature trees in Colonial Lake Park. Jim Hooker, a member of the group’s leadership, warned against careless excavation, saying, “we cannot allow them to do that” if contractors damage specimen trees, and urged trenchless methods or careful hand‑excavation around roots. Speakers also noted nearby bald‑eagle roosting and the park’s mature copper beech and sycamore trees.

Council members responded that an arborist condition or similar tree‑preservation requirement would be reasonable. After council members initially moved to adopt resolution H1 (No. 239) endorsing the ELSSA DEP application, discussion turned to adding explicit tree‑protection language and whether the endorsement should be vacated or tabled until those protections are written into the approval. The transcript records discussion of vacating and tabling the endorsement to include arborist review; the meeting record does not clearly show a subsequent roll‑call to finalize that tabling in the public transcript.

Township officials confirmed they will hold a public meeting in Lawrence before construction begins, and that nondestructive testing and follow‑up inspections of the existing reinforced‑concrete gravity line will be performed in later phases to determine whether lining or rehabilitation is required. The presenters said the project aims to restore disturbed easements and to repave trench areas to current condition after construction.

Next steps: the council asked staff and legal counsel to draft protective language (including an arborist review) that could be added to the resolution or contract documents before final endorsement and to share that language with the public at a follow up session.