January 14, 2003

Ringwood --The January 13, 2003 approval of a 39 home development on an environmentally sensitive tract in Ringwood shocked Ringwood residents and the environmental community.

After just two hearings, the Ringwood Planning Board awarded preliminary site plan approval to Jack Levkovitz for West Brook Hills II, a 166-acre tract off of Burnt Meadow Road. The property contains the headwaters for the West Brook, an exceptional resource wetlands covering over 44 acres of the site, and steep slopes exceeding 30% in many areas.

The handful of residents in attendance watched in disbelief as the board voted to approve the plan without having minimally reviewed the site plan. Serious concerns were raised by North Jersey District Water Supply Commission who had hoped to acquire the tract to protect their Wanaque Reservoir. In a letter to the Board, the Commission insisted that the plan be denied unless there are adequate assurances that this development will not degrade water quality to our reservoirs in any way. Despite promises from Borough Engineer Ed Haack that the developer's plans would address all concerns, North Jersey remained unconvinced, and stated in The Record that they were still very troubled by the development's potential impacts.

CLEAN was working with former Planning Board member Tom Sergi on an analysis of the site plan in an attempt to stop the development when the approval was given. According to Tom's analysis, the developer would have been forced to cut a 40 foot-deep canyon through rock to put in his road.

In an attempt to reverse the decision, CLEAN wrote to the Planning Board and the Borough Council on improprieties in the application and the notification process. The developer used non-existent block and lot numbers on his application document, public notice, and soil movement permits, among others.

CLEAN gathered residents for an appearance before the Borough Council to bring this to the public's attention. CLEAN's Vice-President Joanne Atlas noted how the public's right to comment had been subverted when the project was rammed through.

The Windbeam Trout Club, the oldest fishing club in New Jersey, also protested the Board¹s decision. Bud Korteweg, the club's president, told how the development would negatively impact the West Brook, one of only two trout production streams in New Jersey supporting pure spawning populations of rainbow trout. Silted water from Mr. Levkovitz' new development would be devastating to the brook, which was once the private fishing preserve of the Hewitt family, and has been in the hands of the trout club since the 1920s.

"The stream is one of two in New Jersey that maintain these trout. It would be a tragedy to lose it," stated Korteweg in his testimony before the council.

The council directed Borough attorney Richard Clemack to initiate a fact-finding hearing on the Planning Board's decision. Days later, CLEAN learned of a letter by Planning Board attorney Shep Peck, notifying Mr. Levkovitz that his approval had been overturned and that the hearings would be reopened, are are tentatively scheduled for March 10, 2003.

Public outcry regarding the property has had another positive effect. Mr. Levkovitz recently stated that he wishes to have the land preserved as open space, although previous attempts to purchase the land by New Jersey Conservation Foundation stalled when a price agreement could not be reached. The Passaic River Coalition, who purchased the nearby 305-acre Tory Tract in 2001, recently expressed interest in acquiring the land.