Branchburg Township, New Jersey
Each issue has its own page: where it stands, what happens next, and every dated event, explainer, document and meeting recording behind it, each linked to the township's own record.
Property taxes, the township budget, assessments and tax appeals.
Branchburg voters decide two school bond questions on Nov. 3, 2026: Question 1, $15,028,799 for Stony Brook, Whiton and Branchburg Central Middle School, and Question 2, $19,852,100 for a Stony Brook addition, effective only if Question 1 also passes. State debt-service aid is 40% on eligible costs.
The Township Committee adopted Branchburg's 2026 budget on April 27, 2026 (Resolution No. 2026-88, 5–0) after a public hearing at which no one spoke. It appropriates $28,437,328.59 and raises the municipal-purpose levy $1,497,931 to $16,504,732, a 9.98% increase, plus a $2,671,898.30 open-space levy. The 2025 audit, with no recommendations, was acknowledged September 14, 2026.
The townwide ban on data centers and detention centers, and the lawsuit against it.
Data centers came before the Township Committee in public comment twice in 2026: on July 27 a resident asked for an ordinance prohibiting them, and on September 14 a resident asked the Township to weigh their benefits and drawbacks before any ban. Members responded; the Committee has taken no action.
How the township is run: appointments, contracts, policing policy and public notice.
Branchburg plans a new municipal annex housing a Police Headquarters and Emergency Management Office. On Sept. 28, 2026 the Township Committee adopted Ordinance No. 2026-1518, 5–0, appropriating $18,060,000 and authorizing $17,200,000 in bonds or notes. A federal grant of about $2.25 million is expected to offset part of the cost, and the Township is in discussions with the Board of Education to acquire Old York School.
Comcast of Central New Jersey II, LLC applied in September 2025 to renew its municipal consent to operate Branchburg's cable system. The Township Committee held the public hearing on Dec. 8, 2025; the Township Attorney said the next step is an ordinance setting the renewal terms, which had not been introduced as of the Committee's Oct. 26, 2026 agenda.
Branchburg's fire and rescue services are 100% volunteer, by the Mayor's February 2026 statement; the 2026 budget lists 29 police officers. Since November 2025 the Township Committee has adopted a $1.2 million radio bond for the emergency services, $240,000 for police vehicles and equipment, $150,000 for volunteer fire-company gear, a new towing ordinance, an e-bike ordinance and an $18.06 million bond for a new police headquarters.
A March 18, 2026 fire at the Red Rock Preserve development displaced approximately 60–80 residents, by the Township's estimate, with no lives lost. Displaced residents moved to county services, the Red Cross and temporary housing; on April 13 the Mayor said the Township would inform residents when the fire report is available.
Road projects, sidewalks, sewer and water, power and cell coverage.
After a fatal crash at Route 202 and Holland Brook Road, Mayor James Schworn wrote NJDOT on Oct. 28, 2026 demanding immediate closure of all unsignalized Route 202 crossings and U-turns in Branchburg, citing four fatalities in two years; on Oct. 30 he said NJDOT responded positively and was working toward a solution. NJDOT closed the Holland Brook Road U-turn in December 2025, and in March 2026 the Administrator said a signal there should be in place within a year.
Branchburg's 2026 budget schedules $2,540,000 of road improvements within a $13,040,000 six-year capital line. In 2026 the Township bought resurfacing materials from Schifano Construction, paid it $996,214.10 for road resurfacing on two bill lists, adopted $1,348,000 in Public Works equipment ordinances, and is working with Norfolk Southern toward a permanent quiet zone at the Lehigh Road rail crossing.
A 1980 settlement obliges Branchburg to cooperate on sewer access for a Readington-side development. The 2020 sewer-service MOU with FH Golf Partners covers a 240-unit proposal capped at 60,000 gallons per day, with deadlines extended by Resolution 2023-216 to Dec. 31, 2026, 2027 and 2030. On July 13, 2026 the Committee discussed litigation FH Golf Partners initiated over sewer access and adopted Resolution 2026-143 supporting the Upper Raritan Water Quality Management Plan amendment, 5–0.
Somerset County, with NJTPA and NJDOT, is replacing County Bridge No. C0609, which carries Picket Place (County Route 567) over the South Branch Raritan River between Branchburg and Hillsborough. The project is in Local Preliminary Engineering. The regional FY2026–2029 Transportation Improvement Program estimates its total cost at $18.616 million, with $1.9 million for design in 2027, $50,000 for right-of-way in 2028 and $15.8 million for construction in 2030–2035.
After polling Miller Avenue-area residents, the Township said in September 2025 it would design a sewer extension only for the five-home "A-Green" area, paid by assessment, and rebuild Miller Avenue at no cost to residents; the larger areas were dropped as too costly. Sewer rates rose under Ordinance 2025-1503 (adopted Nov. 24, 2025, 5–0), and the Neshanic pump station is being upgraded.
Applications, redevelopment areas and the Master Plan: what is being proposed and built across the township.
The rolling register of Branchburg's Planning Board and Board of Adjustment applications since October 2025, from the boards' minutes and agendas: approvals for a Route 202 self-storage building, a County Line Road plant expansion, a 40 Harlan School Road addition and a trade school at 3087 Route 22; a 40-patient treatment facility at 953 Route 202 and an indoor sports complex at 22 Readington Road still being heard; and October hearings at 968 Route 202, 204 RVCC Drive and 3083 Route 22 East.
The Evans Way non-condemnation redevelopment area, designated in 2022 for three warehouse buildings, was rezoned by Ordinance 2026-1508 (5–0 on March 9, 2026) for up to 300 apartments and 100 townhouses with 80 affordable units on the 38-acre lot. The smaller lot keeps its approved 30,000-square-foot warehouse, which the Planning Board let go first as a phase on Oct. 28, 2025. The April 15, 2026 court order lists the 80 affordable units as proposed; the housing still needs site-plan approval.
The Fourth Round housing plan, the court case behind it, and the developments that carry it.
Branchburg's 2025–2035 affordable-housing obligation is 255 new units with zero rehabilitation need, settled with Fair Share Housing Center and certified by a Superior Court order of April 15, 2026 in docket SOM-L-142-25. The plan meets it with 208 units plus 63.5 bonus credits; all four mechanisms, including the Evans Way and Vollers inclusionary projects, are still listed as proposed. The Committee adopted the implementing ordinances and resolutions on March 9, 2026, each 5–0.
Farmland and open-space preservation, wildlife, streams and the Sourland Mountain.
Voters approved the 2022 Route 22/28 land-acquisition question, 2,894 to 2,045. The Township has since borrowed under three property-acquisition ordinances, voted in October 2025 to move a 32-acre parcel into open space for a park, renamed its Parks, Recreation and Open Space Committee in January 2026, and in September 2026 ordered signs for two new open-space parcels. The 2026 budget levies $2,671,898.30 for the open-space trust.
The Township Committee introduced floodplain Ordinance No. 2026-1519 on Oct. 12, 2026, 3–0, to keep Branchburg in the National Flood Insurance Program under new flood maps and NJDEP's climate-adjusted flood elevations. Its Oct. 26 agenda said the public hearing would be carried to Nov. 9 for the Planning Board's consistency review. The stormwater program runs under NJPDES permit NJG0148539.