Slimmer plan for Petty's Island

Pennsauken has reversed course and decided to back a plan for Petty's Island that would entail far less development than was originally planned, township officials said last night.

The revised plan for this teardrop-shaped island on the Delaware River eliminates construction of a proposed golf course, and leaves 72 percent of the island undeveloped.

"Tonight's plan is entirely different," Mayor Rick Taylor told a group of reporters prior to disclosing the plan to close to 100 residents in the Central Elementary School auditorium. "It calls for a footprint of only 28 percent development."

That, he said, is 12 percentage points less than the current, controversial footprint proposed by developer Cherokee Pennsauken L.L.C. for the island's 392 acres.

But he said the details of the new proposal, dubbed the Conservation Development plan, were still to be worked out, including whether a hotel complex that was originally envisioned would be built and the amount of housing that would be placed on the island.

"Cherokee still feels it is a viable project," Taylor said. "But we have no land-use plans at the present time. All we have is a footprint."

Officials for Cherokee or the island's owner, Citgo Petroleum, could not be reached for comment last night.

Petty's Island was home to a pair of nesting bald eagles when it became an environmental and political controversy after Citgo Petroleum offered to donate it to the state as open space in 2004. Pennsauken officials and state Democratic power brokers, however, wanted to develop it as part of a $1 billion makeover of formerly industrial waterfront. Petty's Island became part of a 700-acre Pennsauken Township Delaware River Redevelopment Project, which proposed leaving 40 percent of the island undeveloped.

Former Gov. Jim McGreevey's administration rejected Citgo's offer for the island, infuriating environmental groups who said it was an example of a politically connected developer, Cherokee, trumping sound environmental judgment.

Pennsauken officials pointed out that the island, now home to Crowley Marine shipping terminal, would require millions of dollars in environmental cleanup costs.

Gov. Corzine's environmental protection commissioner, Lisa Jackson, launched a review of the situation more than a year ago, and indicated that she would try to strike a compromise between development interests and those in favor of total preservation.

Township officials last night said that in response to those concerns, they hired a private consulting firm - Applied Ecological Services Inc. of Bradhead, Wis. - to review the project and make recommendations.