By Gary Love for the New Jersey State House News Service

State regulators are investigating whether the city of Trenton caused environmental harm by clear-cutting more than a mile of flood-prone Delaware River waterfront.

In recent months, city crews removed mature trees and overgrowth in the roughly 33-acre Stacy Park between Route 29 and the river. The city says the effort is part of a plan to spruce up its long-neglected waterfront and make it more welcoming to visitors, with eventual additions such as playground equipment and picnic areas.

At the same time, the area—including downtown Trenton and a nearby neighborhood called The Island—has been severely affected in recent years by climate-change-driven flooding. High water has displaced hundreds of people from their homes and caused millions of dollars in damage to roads, bridges, and property.

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Beyond the capital city, erosion and flooding are significant concerns for towns along the Delaware River’s 330-mile stretch across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The river provides drinking water to an estimated 13 million people and serves as a major flyway for migratory birds. Excess sediment from destabilized banks threatens the health of the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Trenton takes tree removal so seriously that a public notice is required if workers intend to cut trees down on government-owned property. When a Trenton activist, Michael Ranallo, asked the city for copies of notices for Stacy Park, he was told no such records existed. Next he contacted the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“It appears that a significant amount of vegetation and soil distribution may have occurred along the riparian zone and flood hazard areas of the Delaware River, warranting an inspection from our office,” said Maite Whitley, a Mercer County inspector for the NJDEP, in an email Ranallo shared with the New Jersey State House News Service.

Ranallo said the NJDEP found no evidence that permits or public notices were filed. Elsewhere in the state, the destruction of such habitats has led to prosecutions and fines.

The state is concerned that Trenton may have caused significant damage to the Delaware coastline, according to NJDEP spokesman Vincent Grassi. Investigators are working with the state Soil Conservation District to protect public and private land from erosion and sediment buildup.

Columnist L.A. Parker criticized the city’s actions in an October story for The Trentonian.

“A decision by Trenton officials to cut down trees and remove vegetation to allow residents access to the Delaware River represents poor judgment and an attack on nature,” Parker wrote. “Men with cutting devices have moved like locusts along the banks of the Delaware River in an area of Stacy Park. Their actions have destroyed an ecosystem, and obliterated a network of life, all for an initiative that, according to Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora, will add benches, tables, grills, and other props to lure people to the shoreline.”

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