Federal Hill housing plan draws ire

New skirmishing over town houses

Tuesday, July 31, 2007
By JAMES YOO
STAFF WRITER

BLOOMINGDALE -- Dozens of environmental and government entities are urging state rejection of a developer's claim that putting a 360-unit town house complex on Federal Hill will only minimally affect the area's drainage.

The steep and rocky mountain, north of Route 23 and west of Route 287, is on the eastern rim of the state's Highlands region. That region generates water for millions of state residents.

The groups argue that unless the state enforces its drainage laws, the D.R. Horton project, as proposed, would open the door for other such development throughout the Highlands.

They assert that the Texas-based developer is flouting the state's Stormwater Management Rules and that the development could worsen flooding beneath the mountain tract.

"They need to have an expert evaluate this project," said Ross Kushner of the Pequannock River Coalition. Kushner was one of 42 co-signers of a letter to Lisa P. Jackson, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Specifically, the groups challenge Horton's storm water management report, completed in 2005 by engineering firm Schoor DePalma of Manalapan. The report said the proposed project "will have no significant detrimental impact on the storm water discharge" in accordance with state requirements.

The letter also disputes the concurring assessment of the Planning Board engineer about Horton's report, and urged testing by an outside expert.

Representatives of D.R. Horton did not return calls for comment. Schoor DePalma declined to comment.

Planning Board engineer William Gregor said that he had conducted site and field surveys within the past five months with Horton's engineers. In his engineering opinion, he said, Horton's claims were correct.

A spokeswoman for the state DEP confirmed that the agency had received the letter last week and was working on a response.

The development on the mountain is the result of a "builder's remedy" lawsuit by Horton in 2005. It was based on the borough's failure to meet state Supreme Court mandates by planning for more low- and moderate-income housing.

In February, state Superior Court Judge Burrell Humphreys ordered that the borough craft a rezoning ordinance allowing Horton to build as a way to meet the housing obligation.

This month, the Borough Council adopted a rezoning ordinance allowing construction of the complex on 32 acres of the 180-acre Meer Tract on Federal Hill. Of the 360 units, 72 would be set aside for low- to moderate-income residents.

Of the request for more testing, Borough Attorney Joseph MacMahon said the borough had no choice but to follow the court's order "that there should be no unnecessary cost-generating measures, particularly anything that may cause delays in final approval of the affordable housing development."

The letter by the environmental groups criticized the methods, scope, conclusions and approach taken in the analysis by Horton's engineering firm.

The objectors

Entities contesting storm water management findings submitted by developer D.R. Horton for Federal Hill include:

• Pequannock River Coalition; Skylands CLEAN; New Jersey Sierra Club; New Jersey Environmental Federation; N.J. State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs; New Jersey State Council Trout Unlimited; Passaic River Coalition; N.J. Highlands Coalition; New Jersey Audubon Society; NY-NJ Trail Conference; Wanaque REACH; Highlands Coalition; Pompton Lakes.

• Also, Passaic County Open Space and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund Advisory Council; Hackensack Riverkeeper Inc.; New Jersey Conservation Foundation; Ramapo River Watershed Intermunicipal Council; Pompton Lakes Environmental Protection Committee; Bergen SWAN; Friends of the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge; South Jersey Land and Water Trust; Musconetcong Mountain Conservancy.

Source: Letter from Ross Kushner to DEP Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

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Green Valley Estates causes alarm

WEST MILFORD — The subdivision known as Green Valley Estates (also known as Braemar), off Wooley Road, had neighbors and environmentalists in front of the township council this week.

Several of the residents from the area told the council that they already have water problems. Resident Linda Connelly said many people cannot run their dishwashers and don’t wash their clothes at home because their wells run dry.

Their concern with the project is that the existing wells will become useless if more wells are built in the area.

According to Dr. Doris Aaronson, who also addressed the council, a recent water test clearly proves the area cannot support more wells.

In addition to water concerns, Robin O’Hearn from Skylands CLEAN told the council that the preliminary approval for the subdivision lapsed 16 months ago; however, a model home has been built, and another house is partially constructed.

She also noted that many lots have been cleared and a 2000 ft. road had been built.

Former mayor and planning board member Carl Richko said he didn’t understand how, without final site approval, all of this work was being done. He appealed to the council to step in and stop it, saying, “The buck stops here, with the council.”

According to Aaronson, the builder’s Highland Act exemption will expire on Aug. 10, but since the planning board isn’t meeting in August it seems unlikely the builder will get final approval before the deadline.

Mayor Joseph DiDonato said the council would respond when it had all the facts.

In other business:

• Former resident Martin O’Shea alerted the council that the Municipal Utilities Authority is being sued in Mercer County by the Government Records Council.

The case stems from a complaint made by O’Shea when the MUA didn’t respond to his request for the minutes of several meetings.

The Government Records Council then ordered the MUA to turn over the minutes. The MUA failed to comply with the order and is now being brought into court by the Government Records Council.

O’Shea is not involved with the suit personally, but felt that the council should be aware of the MUA’s non-compliance.

Copyright © 2007 Straus Newspapers

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Condo proposal to take the summer off

Sunday, June 24, 2007

WHAT'S NEW: The proposed Water's Edge at Wanaque housing project will be on hold until September, after the developer's attorney told borough planners there's no sense scheduling hearings during vacation season.

The project was redrafted this year to address the Wanaque planners' concerns, but faces stiff environmental reviews and close scrutiny by borough police and emergency workers.

"This is such an emotional application, maybe we should hold it until everybody is back from vacation," Rosario Presti Jr., the developer's attorney, told the Planning Board on Thursday.

Board Chairman Gilbert Foulon said when the hearing resumes on Sept. 20, it will focus on reviews by emergency agencies and comments by project opponents, which include Skylands CLEAN, an environmental group.

BACKGROUND: The Planning Board has been reviewing since September 2006 an application by developer George Capodagli of Pequannock for preliminary site-plan approval of 96 condominiums and town houses on a 35-acre tract listed by the borough as a site for state-mandated housing for low- and moderate-income people.

The mountainside site, near Union Avenue, is next to a lake and stream that feed a municipal well in Pompton Lakes. The tract is so environmentally sensitive the developer needs numerous state Department of Environmental Protection permits. A revised plan presented in April, in response to municipal questions on access to the development by emergency vehicles, features 11 three-story buildings on terraced streets cut into the mountain.

-- Jan Barry

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

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Hillsdale neighbors fight development

Sunday, June 24, 2007
By DEENA YELLIN
STAFF WRITER

They complain, they rally and they call in the state Department of Environmental Protection.

And sometimes, the unexpected happens: In the war of residents versus big development, the neighbors win.

Residents of Hillsdale's Ell Road banded together to fight a housing development planned for the woods behind their home. They brought their environmental concerns to the attention of the DEP and succeeded in obstructing the developer's efforts, for now.

In West Milford, residents were so successful in their opposition to a 288-unit town house development, the developer walked away from the project.

And neighbors of a proposed town house project on Kinderkamack Road in Westwood brought construction to a halt after complaining to the DEP.

"The residents fought it and were successful," Jim Moldow said about the Westwood development project in his back yard that neighbors have dubbed "The Wall of Shame."

"I urge residents to work together when they believe in a cause. It's not insurmountable to stop a project when you work with politicians, officials and the DEP," he said.

Opposition from Moldow and the other neighbors unfurled a long roll of red tape for the developer, ANM Realty, whose project has been on hold since 2004.

"It's the developer's worst nightmare," said Bob Zampolin, who said he has lost more than $250,000 on the Kinderkamack Road project. "I am waiting for the DEP's decision ... while I pay the carrying costs of the property."

While builders grumble about rallying residents jeopardizing their profits, environmental activists cheer such cases as models of what ordinary citizens can accomplish by acting against sprawl.

"The front lines of defense against overdevelopment are the citizens of every town who are paying attention, finding out the plans, and speaking out," said Betsy Kohn, co-chair of the North Jersey Sierra Club. "There's a general waking up these days. Most people recognize that we are overdeveloped, and as a result, we are all getting flooded."

One prominent developer said that when there's vocal community opposition, the DEP takes longer to approve applications because the agency knows everyone is scrutinizing its actions.

But DEP officials deny that there's any movement under way to cater to watchdog groups opposing development. "The law is not more stringent when there's opponents. Each project has its own set of variables, and there are different permits required for each one," said Elaine Makatura, a DEP spokeswoman. "Our mission is to ensure that each town and waterway is protected."

Jeff Weinberger, principal of Caliber Builders in New City, N.Y., witnessed the impact of angry neighbors. His senior housing development project on a 12-acre tract in Ell Woods in Hillsdale has been in limbo for six years, ever since he confronted community opposition.

Neighbors crusaded to save the woods as soon as they heard the tract had sold.

John Sapanara, a Hillsdale councilman whose home looks out into the Ell Woods, said he "didn't move here to have houses in my back yard." His neighbors agreed.

They signed petitions, appeared at meetings to protest and called in the DEP, which asked Caliber to apply for various permits.

That slowed the project considerably. The developer subsequently altered the plan as a result of the opposition. Later this month, Caliber will approach the borough once again with a new plan.

"The reason our project did not gain DEP approval is because there was a lot of community opposition," said Weinberger. "The neighbors hired an attorney and engineer to interfere with our application. They came to every meeting and reviewed every submission. Ultimately, when we made applications to the DEP, they reviewed it and commented to the DEP, and we were required to respond. The DEP did nothing wrong, but it made everything much slower."

That's precisely the goal of activists like Lori Charkey, co-director of Bergen SWAN (Save the Watershed Action Network). "It's really about vigilance," she said. "The basis of every environmental cause over the past few decades is that it starts with a few people who see something and ask questions and then light a fire."

Charkey said she's concerned about those who choose to keep quiet, because they are doing an injustice to the entire community.

Neighbors may not defeat the developers who are within their legal rights. In such cases, Charkey said, "The best you can do is attend meetings and press for the project to be scaled back. You have to get the ball rolling; you have to contact political representatives."

In West Milford, plans for the Eagle Ridge housing complex have been thwarted over an inadequate water supply to the 288-unit development.

The project already had preliminary site plan approvals in place when residents began showing up in large numbers to hearings in 2004, said Robin O'Hearn, director of Skylands CLEAN, a grassroots environmental advocacy group based in Ringwood that became involved in this fight three years ago.

O'Hearn's group hired a hydro-geologist, who determined there was not enough water for the project to be built, despite what the developer's experts testified.

"The residents banded together and complained to the DEP about the water shortage," she said. "Everyone was calling and writing letters to the DEP. We asked for more testing. People came to hearings and told stories about how they couldn't do laundry and give their children baths the same day. There were 900 people who sent letters to the DEP against the project."

The result: The DEP requested additional testing.

In 2006, K. Hovnanian, the builder of the proposed project, abandoned the plans, citing costs of additional testing.

Landowners Wolfgang and Maria Winter, who have been given permission by a state appeals court to proceed where developer K. Hovnanian left off, are attempting to pursue the housing project.

Maria Winter said the couple is proceeding with testing, but would not comment further.

But O'Hearn said she's thrilled with the progress of the opposition group. "This project has been on the drawing board for many, many years," she said. "It's highly possible at this point that it will never be built.

"I'm very proud of what we've accomplished. People can absolutely make a difference."

E-mail: yellin@northjersey.com

United neighborhoods, halted developments

Examples in which residents made a difference by banding together to fight developments:

Teaneck: Citizens organized last year to save the graves of Lenape Native Americans, African-Americans, and of the Zabriskies, an early settler family of Bergen County. The cemetery is located on Kipps Bend, a cove on the Hackensack River. A property owner wanted to build a single-family house on that site. The group of citizens circulated petitions, held prayer vigils, publicized their plight through every means available and eventually received a $100,000 grant from the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission for conservation of that land.

New Milford: Sanzari's New Bridge Inn wanted to install a parking lot in Brett's Park, which enjoys Green Acres protection and is part of historic New Bridge Landing. Concerned citizens successfully fought his plan by bringing in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and local and state politicians.

River Vale: A group of concerned citizens banded together in 1996 to save watershed property on Poplar Road from becoming a high-density housing complex. They lobbied Trenton, the Council on Affordable Housing and other officials, and raised $8 million to purchase the land and turn it into Poplar Road Wildlife Sanctuary -- a nature preserve.

Saddle Brook: The developer of a plan for 175 apartments on a North Midland Avenue tract withdrew its plan because of strong opposition from residents in the area who complained that the dense development would affect their quality of life.

Hillsdale: When a developer purchased property in the woods behind Ell Road, residents banded together to fight the project. They brought the environmental concerns to the attention of the DEP and succeeded in obstructing the developer's efforts, for now.

West Milford: Residents fought a large developer over plans for a 288-unit town house development. They raised concerns that there was not an adequate water supply in the area for the project. The opposition was so vocal and so vigorous, the developer ended up walking away from the project.

Westwood: Neighbors of a proposed town house project on Kinderkamack Road brought construction to a halt after raising a host of complaints to the DEP. The project has been on hold since 2004 as the developer waits for series of approvals and permits.

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

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Pequannock River Coalition thanks its benefactors

Recognition given on May 8

On May 8, at a ceremony held in the Kinnelon Public Library, the Pequannock River Coalition honored those who have offered exceptional service toward preserving and restoring the Pequannock River Watershed. The awards were given in four categories. A list of awards and the current honorees is provided below.

Volunteer service awards
Honoring the generosity, dedication and commitment of volunteers toward protecting the natural resources of the Pequannock River Watershed:
Carl Richko - Hewitt
Bernie Stapleton - West Milford
Mary Tooman - Pompton Lakes

Public Service Awards
Honoring the dedication and commitment of public officials toward protecting the natural resources of the Pequannock River Watershed:
Passaic County Freeholder Terry Duffy, West Milford

Professional Service Awards
Honoring the dedication and commitment of those, who in their professional capacity, have provided extraordinary protection to the natural resources of the Pequannock River Watershed:
Robin O’Hearn, Director, Skylands CLEAN
Laura Alex, Watershed Institute Coordinator, Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association
Lawrence J. Baier, Director, NJDEP Division of Watershed Management

River Protector Awards
Honoring the extraordinary philanthropic contributions of individuals, foundations and businesses toward protecting the natural resources of the Pequannock River Watershed:
Doris Aaronson, West Milford (Individual)
Steven and Natalie Yafet, Hillside (Individual)
Marian C. Leers Charitable Trust (Foundation)
River Place at Butler (Business)

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West Milford sends anti-purple message

By Ron Nowak
Greenwood Lake News
May 10, 2007

At last Saturday’s rescheduled Highlands Rally, speaker after speaker urged the NJ Highlands council to delete all high-density development areas from the proposed Highlands Regional Master Plan that has become a bitter bone of contention between townships like West Milford that are entirely within the Highlands preservation zone, developers, and the Highlands Council itself. Most of those speaking at the West Milford rally urged Highlands officials to abide by the spirit of the Highlands Act and designate West Milford’s lake communities as green for preservation rather than purple for high-density development.

Noting that local zoning must follow the final master plan, Skylands CLEAN Director Robin O’Hearn noted that allowing the high-density designation to stand would force the township to rezone many of its lake communities for high-density development. She questioned a WM MUA letter that states that many township lake communities are experiencing a high rate of septic failure and should be sewered. Sewers mean development, said O’Hearn.

West Milford Councilman James Warden urged his council colleagues to appoint qualified people to the planning and zoning boards instead of what her termed “political cronies.” He urged the township to stop promoting a high-density town center from within.

Greenwood Lake Commission Co-Chair Ella Filippone noted that although West Milford supplied water to half of the state’s population, the township itself is in a water deficit situation. While reservoirs are full, ground water is in short supply, she said.

Mayor Joseph DiDonato, noting the master plan purple and green designations, said he sees ‘red,’ the color of budget deficits, because the Highlands Act does not compensate West Milford for lost ratables.

Pequannock River Coalition head Ross Kushner said the master plan “sets 30 years of progress on its head,” by denoting sensitive stream corridors as high-density development zones. The Highlands Council, he said, “only needs to do what is right.”

Warning of impending water disaster for West Milford, Doris Aaronson said the township is already beyond build-out when it comes to ground water. Adding more than a thousand residents in the proposed Boulder Pond (formerly Eagle Ridge) and Valley Ridge developments, she said, would make a bad situation much worse and would probably raise school costs.

The Highlands master plan public comment period ended May 11th.

© Greenwood Lake News

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Show of unity at Highlands Rally

Call for water tax and removal of “purple blotches”

Wednesday, May 9, 2007
By Tim Fox
Staff Writer

The message is clear. Remove the purple blotches and protect the township’s water.

With residents complaining of wells drying up during droughts, waterways experiencing pollution and much of the township’s watershed disappearing, a crowd of residents, political leaders and environmental activists spoke passionately to “Save the Highlands” at a rally Saturday afternoon at Town Hall.

Wearing T-shirts that read, “Purple blotches bring pollution, Highlands green is our solution,” a dozen or so speakers demanded that the purple blotches, or “Planned Community Zones” outlined in the draft Highlands Regional Master Plan (RMP) be removed once and for all.

The RMP, a 200-plus page document designed to protect water and map out future housing growth in the 1,250 square-mile New Jersey Highlands, has raised a great measure of questions and concerns since its release last November by the Highlands Council, which oversees the region. Many people fear the Planned Community zones, the now notorious purple blotches highlighted in the plan’s Land Use Capability map, will leave lake communities and other environmentally sensitive areas open to increased development.

“When the RMP came out, I think most of us were just astonished that there were purple areas or planned growth areas around our rivers and lakes,” said Carl Richko, former township mayor and host of the rally. “We hope today that we send a clear message to the Highlands council that it’s not wise planning, especially when there is a water protection act, to put planned growth areas around lakes and rivers.

Rally attendees encouraged residents to join the fight and send a message to the Highlands council telling it to remove the purple blotches. The public comment period for the RMP is set to conclude Friday. Comments can be mailed to: NJ Highlands Council, 100 North Road, Chester, NJ 07930. (Or comments can be emailed through the Highlands Council web site: http://www.highlands.state.nj.us/njhighlands/master_plan.html).

Several speakers said that the RMP violates the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, a state law designed to protect state drinking water and open space that was adopted in 2004.

Ross Kushner, executive director of the Pequannock River Coalition, a local nonprofit environmental advocacy organization, said the RMP fails to build on a hard-fought political and social battle for the environment that has spanned 30 years.

“Growth and development areas are mapped in this plan that includes almost 10 square miles of wetlands,” said Kushner. “In the Pequannock River watershed alone, many hundreds of acres of flood prone land have been designated for development.”

Robin O’Hearn, Director of Skylands CLEAN, a non profit environmental action organization based in Ringwood, said the RMP allows for sewerage expansion, a point she said is expressly prohibited by the Highlands Act. “The expansion of sewers will suck our wells dry, pollute our waterways, and allow much more development,” said O’Hearn.

Mayor Joseph DiDonato was one of several speakers calling for a water use tax for the hundreds of state municipalities that use billions of gallons of water from the Highlands without compensating the region.

While DiDonato recognized protecting the region’s water as a noble cause, he also said that fighting to save the watershed comes at a financial cost, which is unfairly burdening the township.

“Of the 88 municipalities in the Highlands region, none is going to bear a more disproportionate share of the economic burden that West Milford,” he said. “Those who benefit the most from this act my pay the most. If this plan is implemented without a fair and just water consumption rate payable to our town, then our residents and their children will be forced out.”

Compounding residents’ fear of high-density development is the region’s groundwater deficit, which several speakers recognized.

Ella Filippone, executive director of the Passaic River Coalition, and environmental action organization dedicated to protection of water resources, warned that adding any kind of development that draws from groundwater would increase the water deficit and decrease the quality of water.

“We fear the continuous depletion of groundwater in this municipality and in the Highlands,” said Filippone who emphasized developing ways to preserve the region’s water supply.

“The long term water supply does not exist,” she said later on. “We’ve got some very serious problems that we’ve got to address – the purple blotches have to be removed.”

Pinecliff Lake environmental trustee Doris Aaronson went so far as to say that adding more development to the township could leave thousands of homeowners without water.

She recalled several frightful incidents during a recent drought when many homes had no water. Neighbors had to share water by connecting homes with a garden hose. One woman said that she didn’t have enough water to wash both her baby and her laundry the same day, Aaronson said.

Tim Fox’s email address is foxt@northjersey.com

© 2007 Suburban Trends

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