The announcement by Mayor William Neary of East Brunswick that the Tamarack Hollow tract in the rural preservation zone of East Brunswick is going to be saved as open space is good news.

It was only three years ago that Mayor Neary, with other public officials, met at the site and praised the proposed housing development as the best way to mix residential development with environmental concerns. That proposal had included a wastewater facility that would have pumped its discharge into the Farrington Sands aquifer.

The Tamarack Hollow housing development would have been approved had it not been for several individuals who delivered an opposition presentation at the final Planning Board hearing. In all the hoopla and self-congratulating posturing, perhaps giving credit to those individuals was overlooked by the politicians.

Richard S. Walling

Somerville