The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 11

A12 REGION THE HOME NEWS SUNDAY, MARCH 6,1983 Name remains the same I year after resignation I 3 Hilt 44, 1 SUM ft. VWf of the podium, along with New Jersey's state Department of Transportation Commissioner Louis Gambac-cinl. Behind them, rows of ground-hugging juniper climbed up the railroad embankment. A newly erected 12-by-3 foot sign, reading "Harrison A. Williams, METRO-PARK STATION," in deep red with beige letters, glistened in the sunlight.

And so it remains today, though the sign has begun to show signs of wear. And Williams has dropped out of sight since he resigned from the Senate, which occurred a year ago this Friday. On June 28, 1979 a little more than a month before Williams came here to rededicate the commuter rail station in his name Williams drove to a hotel in Arlington, outside Washington, D.C., for a meeting. A hidden videotape camera in an adjacent room recorded Williams's actions and conversation as he accepted a financial interest in a titani- the state of New Jersey was renaming the Amtrak Metropark Station here the Harrison A. Williams Metro-park station.

Williams was flattered. "It came as a total surprise and nothing could have pleased me more," he said the day after the dinner. "I've been advocating national programs supporting mass transit ever since entering the Senate. I feel close to Metropark because it was constructed with some federal funds made available by programs I helped to enact. Metropark is the kind of answer we need to today's transit problems.

It's a clean, accessible station that makes railroad commuting attractive." Williams authored the Urban Mass Transit Assistance Act, which provided funding for the facility, built in 1971. Williams accepted an invitation to speak at the dedication ceremony here a few months later, on July 30. His wife sat on a platform to the rear f- By ROD HIRSCH Homo News staff writer WOODBRIDGE Everyone -particularly the governor thought it was a swell idea at the time. Brendan T. Byrne called his people over at the Department of Transportation to make sure the arrangements could be made.

He was assured there'd be no problem. The DOT's Commuter Operating Agrnry acted swiftly, endorsing the governor's proposal in plenty of time for the fancy bash at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark on April 5, 197(1. The night of the dinner, which was preceded by a $500-per-person reception at the Newark Museum. Byrne sprang his surprise on the man of the hour, and the 1,300 people gathered to honor Sen. Harrison A.

Williams. Jr. In recognition of his 20 years of public service, and consistent support of mass transit over the years, Home News Photo bv Marc Aicher NO NAME CHANGE The brown and biege facade outside the MetroPark station carries the name of former U.S. Senator Harrison A. Williams, who resigned from his office one year ago Friday, nine months after he was convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges.

NJ Transit officials says the agency has never contemplated dropping Harrison's name from the station. lfIfiaJJf A. um mining venture from an FBI agent disguised as an Arab shiek, in return for using his influence to get military contracts for the company. He also promised to introduce an immigration bill that would allow the phony shiek to remain in the country. What followed was a painful time for Williams, New Jersey and the nation.

In May, 1981, Williams was convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges in a Brooklyn courtroom, stemming from his involvement in the FBI's Abscam sting operation. The ensuing nine months consisted of up-and-down heartache, indecision and indignation. Williams continued to proclaim his innocence, insisting he was victimized by overzealous law enforcers. However, his 23 years in the Senate ended six days after his lr TWrmTm ft Home News I DEDICATION New Jersey's former U.S. Sen.

Harrison A. Williams, Jr. is shown as he spoke tne dedication cf the MetroPark station July 30, 1979, in Woodbridge. Seated behind him are his wife Nancy, and former state department of transportation commissioner Louis Gambaccini. wetlands maps may mean loss of land ssing IV ronuniii from I he balance of a region m.iTlaimng high waie- quality.

Hi UM swairps. hogs. nidiVt areas "where wa-iit nam factor which r. of soild develop-iiv of piant and animal i soil and on 'h Mirl to Theodore management spe- iftisM Itutjers University. Kveryone agrees preserving the wM lands is a priority of the highest order The Legislature declared the wetlar.Js "ene of the most vital and prou' ieuve areas of our natural The Well Art of 1 970 said that the OKI' wttlun two years of eher'ive date of this act.

make i inventerv and maps of all tidal aBiSHaSSBSTS The one and only FURNITURE Hid Kurni(ur Sinep IftOt" llW St i. "I would think that if it were on the minds of the public, there would be an outcry," he added. Williams was sentenced to a four-year jail term, and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. He appealed the conviction, and has been waiting since Oct. 7 to learn the outcome ol the appeal hearing, held before the 2nd U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Williams' attorney, George Koe-zler, said he has been unable to learn anything from court officials. "It's like waiting for a baby to be born," he said late last week. Koezler said his client has been sticking close to his Bedminster home, but would say nothing more about Williams' activities in the year since his resignation. The state's existing Wetlands Act maps cover a portion of the Global near the Cheesequake Creek.

The 1970s wetlands delineation "cut our landfill in half," owner Russell Kerestes said. And when Global sought to build a environmentally secure dike around the dump, it took four years for the landfill to secure a permit. Enforcement of the wetlands act, Kerestes observed, "hasn't been consistent." A Sayreville marina owner who operates on the waterfront near the Garden State Parkway says he's still waiting for the state to accept his application for a Wetlands permit to expand his facility. "It takes a lot of perseverance to get a Wetlands permit," said the businessman, ho declined to be identified. But southwest of his property, near the South River and the Ten-; nents Brook, the state never got around to mapping the wetlands.

A 915-unit townhouse complex in Sayreville was approved in 1979 near the East Brunswick border that some county planning sources feared encroached on wetlands. But without the maps, the stale could not in-' tercede under provisions of the law adopted nine years earlier. iii Wis. i ft i fcvl 7 Senate colleagues began to debate whether New Jersey's senior senator should be expelled from their chamber. The point became moot when he resigned on March 11, 1982.

Williams and his staff were given one month to vacate his Senate office. Everything went, including his brass nameplate, which was removed from the door of Room 352 in the Russell Senate Office Building. NJ Transit, on the other hand made no move to remove Williams' name from the facade of the train station here, and as far as the agency is concerned, the name will remain the same. "I am aware of no proposals to change the name of the station," said NJ Transit spokesman Herman Volk. NJ Transit owns and operates the facility.

Middlesex, Somerset, however, doesn't believe it will be a problem. Not waiting for the state to map out its wetlands, Woodbridge in 1981 hired a consultant to do the job. Without state jurisdiction, the federal government allowed the township to permit sewer hookups on 3,300 acres of vacant land. No developer has moved in. Will new state maps overlap or contradict the town's work? No one is sure.

It is widely conceded that portions of some waterfront landfills such as Kin-Buc in Edison, where thousands of gallons of chemical wastes are buried, had "filled" wetlands long before 1970. If the state stepped in to control these lands as far back as the early 1970s, some county officials believe it might have had a significant impact on the course of certain landfills or developments that nudge major brooks or rivers. Without the maps, these officials said, one can only speculate. Would state mapping in 1970 have changed the manner in which other landfills near the Raritan have operated, possibly forcing them to cut short their dumping practices? Nobody is certain. 1 1 i FLOOR SAMPLES 1 8th Century tradition 12 in classic oak 12 wetlands within the state." Without them, however, the state was powerless to exert any control over development in the wetlands.

The state lacked such maps for Middlesex County for most of the last decade. The story goes, according to some DEP officials, that the original aerial photographs taken of the New Jersey coastal terrain inadvertently missed the Raritan Basin. By 1976 the state did put together maps covering wetlands in the southeast portion of the county up to the Cheesequake Creek, Laurence Harbor and Whale Creek. It stopped there. Municipalities established their own limited controls.

A county memorandum written in 1979 raised concerns: "Why isn't this mapping effort being extended to the Raritan both in Collector's Oak PARKING PARKWAY Headquarters MostafCard NEW BRUNSWICK PHONE 545-0200 "rnn it estuary where considerable wetlands exist and are dwindling annually due to unregulated activities, and where, since 1972, the Middlesex County Planning Board has urged that the state undertake additional wetlands mapping?" Citing instances of "lack of local authority" and "activities not regulated," the report added: "Hundreds of acres of tidal wetlands have been filled in Middlesex County." County Planning Board files show that Middlesex officials repeatedly demanded the mapping, without success. State officials said there was no money to finish the job. Since 1980, state and federal officials have attempted. to assuage the concerns of county officials. They expressed confidence that adequate protection was being afforded the wetlands in the past three years under state and federal reviews governed by different statutes, the Waterfront Development Law and the Federal Clean Water Act.

But these reviews aren't as stringent as the Wetlands law which prohibits most development in these fertile lands after the toughest of reviews. The state's Coastal Area Facility Review Act zone, which also controls shoreline development, does not extend northwest of Old Bridge. In a much-publicized move, the state also is drawing up so-called tidelands maps to assert its claim to riparian lands once or now washed by the tides. Those maps would include some but not all of the wetland areas. Alan Campbell, chief of planning in the Division of Coastal Resources, and Michael Hochman, a principal environmental official, said they believe existing controls since 1986 are adequate protection but without the Wetlands maps the review process is not comprehensive.

Moreover, a DEP enforcement official noted that while field reviews in Middlesex County in recent years have not elicited evidence of much improper development or landfilling of wetland areas, without the maps "we don't have any jurisdiction." Once the new maps are promulgated, "it should shake up a few people," said one planning consultant, who declined to be identified. "It was always interesting to me as to how the state just stopped mapping in the Raritan basin." Using $120,000 for a makeover of the original statewide maps, the state DEP is currently marking wetlands in the Raritan basin not previously covered. Hochman says the DEP tentatively has chosen April 7 as a public hearing date. The final maps will not be in place until later this year. "Have they been negligent?" asked East Brunswick Township Administrator John Runyon, referring to the DEP.

"Yes, but the first priority was the southern half of the state. So much of the wetlands in Middlesex County just aren't wetlands anymore. Given their resources and priorities (such as toxic waste), they did the right thing." The new mapping may significantly affect wetland areas in Wood-bridge, Piscataway, Edison, Sayre-ville and East Brunswick. Officials predict that, once the maps are drawn, great disputes may erupt over lines. In other instances, some WETLANDS Aerial photograph from the state Department of Environmental Protection shows the general location of wetlands in the Sayreville-South River area.

Maps showing the precise locations of the wetlands have never been completed, despite a Legislative order that the maps be drawn. Thomasville combines debates finally may be settled once and for all. In Edison last week, for example, a developer and citizens clashed over the suitability of the site for a proposed apartment complex off New Durham Road. Another Edison question: Will the Industrial Land Reclaiming Corp. landfill near the Raritan River be able to expand another 50 acres as planned? The wetland maps may decide.

Wheelabrator-Frye a New Hampshire firm planning to build a controversial resource-recovery plant on Edgeboro landfill property in East Brunswick, is convinced its prime spot is in a wetlands. The wetland permit process will be another obstacle to overcome for the company when it seeks state permits for the project. Also in East Brunswick, the township's plans to renovate a 930-acre waterfront marina may be affected, in part, on new wetlands maps. In addition, a joint waterfront development project for Highland Park and New Brunswick, proposed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and state officials, probably would be forced to take wetlands mapping into consideration. Assemblyman David Schwartz, D- a urn u-tint yt'itt I'' 'i' 1 learnt an mrt-tmmt mir heme.

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