Explainers
Articles
Longer pieces that take one question at a time and answer it from the record. Each one ends with the documents and meeting video it is built on, so you can check it.
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The Fox Hollow Sewer Agreements, Explained: 1980, 2020, 2023 and the 2026 Deadline
What the 1980 settlement with Fox Hollow Enterprises promised, what the 2020 sewer-service MOU with FH Golf Partners requires for a 240-unit Readington proposal, how Resolution 2023-216 moved the deadlines, what the Township said in May 2025, the FH Golf Partners litigation and Resolution 2026-143 on the Upper Raritan Water Quality Management Plan amendment, and what comes next.
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The Miller Avenue Sewer Proposal and the Sewer Utility, Explained
What the Township's July and September 2025 letters and the revised August 2025 map say about extending sewer to the Miller Avenue area, why the Township is going ahead only with the "A-Green" area, what the November 2025 sewer-rate ordinance changed, the Neshanic pump station work, and what the 2025 audit says the sewer utility takes in, spends and owes.
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Branchburg Open Space and the New Park, Explained: The Referendum, the Purchases and the Trust Fund
What the 2022 Route 22/28 referendum asked and how voters answered, what the audit shows about the property-acquisition borrowing, the 32-acre park parcel, the renamed Parks, Recreation and Open Space Committee, the new open-space parcels and land sales, the open-space tax and trust fund, and deer management and tree planting on Township land.
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The Picket Place Bridge Replacement, Explained
What Somerset County's Picket Place (County Route 567) bridge replacement is, why the county says it is replacing it, what the county page and project website say about its phases and dates, what the regional transportation program budgets for it, and which public meetings are listed.
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Branchburg's 2026 Budget and Taxes, Explained: $28.4 Million, $16.5 Million and Two Different Totals
What Branchburg's 2026 budget appropriates and raises, how and when the Committee adopted it, how the property tax bill splits among school, county and municipal budgets, what the 2025 audit found, the debt and AAA statements, and the figures the records print differently — set side by side.
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The Comcast Franchise Renewal, Explained: The Application, the Dec. 8, 2025 Hearing and What Comes Next
What Comcast of Central New Jersey II, LLC's renewal application states, what the Township's public-hearing notice set, what happened at the Dec. 8, 2025 hearing, and the next step the Township Attorney described: an ordinance setting the renewal terms.
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Data Centers in Branchburg, Explained: What Was Said in 2026
What residents asked for and what Committee members said about data centers at the July 27 and September 14, 2026 Township Committee meetings, from the minutes, and where the issue stands: no ordinance, resolution or application.
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The Evans Way Redevelopment Plan, Explained: From Warehouses to 400 Homes
How the Evans Way area became a non-condemnation redevelopment area in 2022, what the warehouse plan and its 2023 site-plan approval were, how the first warehouse building on the smaller lot was allowed to go ahead as a phase in 2025, what Ordinance 2026-1508 allows instead on the larger lot (up to 300 apartments and 100 townhouses, 80 affordable), and what still has to happen before the housing is built.
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Branchburg Flooding and Stormwater, Explained: The SPPP, Ordinance 2024-1477 and Floodplain Ordinance 2026-1519
What the Township's stormwater permit requires and what its plan records, what Ordinance 2024-1477 changed, what floodplain Ordinance No. 2026-1519 would do, and where it stands: introduced Oct. 12, 2026, with its public hearing carried to Nov. 9 for the Planning Board's review.
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Branchburg's Fourth Round Housing Plan, Explained: 255 Units and the April 15, 2026 Order
What Branchburg's 2025–2035 affordable-housing numbers mean, how the obligation was settled with Fair Share Housing Center, which mechanisms the plan counts, what the court certified on April 15, 2026, how the Committee and Planning Board adopted the implementing ordinances and resolutions, and where the record's figures disagree, with each discrepancy set side by side.
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Branchburg's Land-Use Applications, Explained: What Is Before the Boards
Which applications the Branchburg Planning Board and Board of Adjustment heard and decided from October 2025 to October 2026, from the boards' own minutes and agendas — what each sought, how each vote went, what was said at the 953 Route 202 and 22 Readington Road hearings, and which hearings continue in November and December.
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The Municipal Annex and Police Headquarters, Explained: Old York School, $18.06 Million and the $20 Million Plan Line
How Branchburg's plan for a new municipal annex with a police headquarters and emergency management office moved through the Township Committee in 2026 — the April design and feasibility contracts, the federal grant, the Old York School discussions and the $18,060,000 bond ordinance adopted Sept. 28, 5–0 — and the capital plan's $20,000,000 line.
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Branchburg's Emergency Services, Explained: Who Serves, What the Committee Funded, What the Budget Lists
The Mayor's 100%-volunteer statement, the Emergency Services page roster, the radio, vehicle, fire-gear, towing and e-bike decisions the Township Committee made from November 2025 to August 2026, the 2026 appropriations for police, fire and emergency management, and the 29 budgeted officers.
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The Red Rock Fire, Explained: March 18, 2026 and the Township's Response
The March 18, 2026 Red Rock Preserve fire, what the Township's March 20 and March 27 releases state about displacement and the handoff to county services, the preliminary investigation finding, and what officials told the Township Committee on March 23 and April 13.
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Branchburg's Municipal Roads and Spending, Explained
What the 2026 capital program schedules for road improvements and Public Works equipment, what the Township Committee bought, paid and adopted in 2026 — resurfacing with Schifano Construction, $1,348,000 of equipment ordinances — what the 2025 audit says was spent, and where the Lehigh Road rail quiet zone stands.
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Route 202 Safety in Branchburg, Explained: The Holland Brook Intersection, the Mayor's Letter and NJDOT
What the Township Committee heard about Route 202 and Holland Brook Road from December 2025 to April 2026 — the NJDOT U-turn closure and the planned signal — and what Mayor James Schworn said and asked of NJDOT after the October 2026 fatal crash there, in his Oct. 27 statement, Oct. 28 letter and Oct. 30 update.
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The Branchburg School Bond Questions, Explained: $15,028,799 and $19,852,100
What the two school bond questions on the November 3, 2026 ballot authorize, their eligible costs and 40% state debt-service aid, the district portal's project lists, and the Board of Education's August 13, 2026 resolution putting them on the ballot.
Prefer the events in order?
The timeline puts every dated step on one page, with a citation on every entry.