Grassroots Groundswell

By Antoinette Rinehart

The June 25 Planning Board meeting has been canceled. No reason given.

Next scheduled meeting is two weeks and I think this falls on July 9. Mark your calendars, please.

I have just returned from Borough Hall where I viewed the new application of Watchung Hills at North Plainfield.

As best I can tell they have designed 48 single-family stand-alone, 2-1/2 story homes; each containing three bedrooms, an office (could be used as another bedroom), two baths, one half-bath. Livable space averages 2,800 ft. on lots 50 ft. wide (depth varies) with a 30 ft. “front yard”. All these positioned on a “horseshoe drive” entrancing and exiting onto Interhaven Avenue.

No indication if these are pre-fabs but I would make a guess. On the corner of Wilson and Ridge Avenues there are two prefabs that have been built since March and are described pretty much per the proposed home plan submitted by Watchung Hills. These went together fast but are not yet finished. Yet the Era Realty sign is posted for both and carries a local Suburban Realty number.

I will try to check out the pricing and advise.

By Heather DeGeorge, North Plainfield resident and former Council member

There is only one Council representative to the Planning Board allowed, but one is enough to convey the message. It was traditionally Frank Righetti but I don’t know who it might be now–Skip Stabile did it for a while.

We briefly considered Villa Maria for school space and it’s a good BUILDING for it, but in terms of keeping the kids close to fields, etc. it wasn’t such a great idea due to the cost of excavating the land for fields (plus the destruction it would cause to the trees, etc.). So you could do it, but at a much greater cost and a MUCH greater impact environmentally. If nothing else, it needs to be leveled out and that alone would destroy a good number of the trees.

The Master Plan was updated around 2003-2005 (I started with it and I believe they finished it when I left due to complicated pregnancy). I’m not sure they touched the section citing school expansion because I don’t remember it coming up–but maybe it was updated after I left. If they didn’t touch it, then it would still note the need.

It has always been an issue trying to keep the kids from having to cross roads to get to fields (for practice, playing and events). The thought came up once to acquire the Ballas property on Greenbrook Rd. and it came up again that it would leave the kids (and adults) having to cross a busy street.

It’s a tough thing to accommodate.

From the 1974 Master Plan - Section 5, pages 78-79 (emphasis added)

Editor’s Note: In my view, 1974 is the last time the Borough put together a well-documented, comprehensive, sensible Master Plan. It was slightly revised in a fairly good 1996 document, but the 2002 document was a pathetic piece of slipshod work, in my opinion.

Since the Borough must review and revise the Master Plan this year by law, there’s a great opportunity for the Planning Board, with community support and assistance, to rectify the enormous deficiencies of the 2002 document by updating the data in the 1974 version and adding in the community’s new ideas for the future.

Master Plan Revision is a duty of the Planning Board; to date, I’ve heard no signals suggesting they’ve got plans to start the required public hearings and do the job. To review all the Master Plans including and since 1974, check out the Document Library and scroll down.

FLOOD CONTROL

Perhaps the most serious problem which North Plainfield has experienced in recent years is frequent flooding of lands adjacent to Stony Brook and Green Brook. The more extensive floods occurred in 1969, 1971 (Hurricane Doria) and 1973. The latter flood proved to be the most serious.

The damage caused by flooding in the Borough has been extensive and has exceeded that experienced by most municipalities in the State. Although there is no way of defining precisely the amount of damage caused by flooding, estimates of damage to private and public property resulting from the 1973 storm alone range from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. In addition, clean-up and repairs following this storm cost the Borough $400,000.

The flood damage that has occurred in the past is very much the result of the fact that development has taken place in flood plain areas which should have been left undisturbed. In addition, as more area upstream becomes developed, these flood plain areas stand the chance of being expanded. Therefore, prompt action must be taken if the Borough is to avoid repeated flood damage and the resulting expense.

Flooding of Stony Brook and Green Brook is largely a regional problem which is beyond the ability of the Borough alone to solve. Cooperative efforts of other municipalities are needed and, most importantly, action by higher levels of government. To date, activities in this area by County, State and Federal agencies have been tentative and incomplete and no firm or specific solutions have been presented despite the urgency of the problem.

Obviously, immediate actions are necessary if the Borough is to avoid repetition of flood damage.

Historically, solutions to flood problems have largely involved structural improvements, including dams and piping. In all probability, the ultimate correction of flooding of Stony Brook and Green Brook will necessitate drainage and flood control structures ot this nature. In addition, facilities for upstream detention will be desirable and should reduce volume downstream.

However, such measures will be extremely costly and may not provide the complete solution in North Plainfield. The Borough has more improved properties in the floodways than any other municipality in the County and many of these properties may continue to be faced with the threat of flood damage despite structural improvements.

The alternate solution in the Borough and the one which would be most expeditious, would be to acquire properties within flood hazard areas and return them to their natural state. Such an approach could prove to be far less expensive than structural improvements and should increase the water retention capacity of land adjoining the streams.

A number of attempts to define flood hazard areas and to identify properties that have experienced flooding have been made by Federal and State agencies. Review of the results of these efforts reveal apparent discrepancies between the flood delineations and what has been actual, local experience. Therefore, there is a need for more precise information before properties which should be acquired can be identified and reflected for this purpose on the Master Plan.

This will involve further studies which should address themselves to the following:

• (a) Identification of properties which should be acquired either as a result of final structural solutions that may be developed by the Corps of Engineers or out of consideration for safety and protection of life.
• (b) Preparation of a plan for the acquisition of the properties so identified utilizing every available and prudent funding source at the Federal and State government levels.

(c) Establishment of a local, flood hazard area delineation which will serve as the basis for sound and rational land use and development regulations within flood prone areas.

by Councilwoman Barbara Habeeb

This week, I called and spoke to a woman named Courtney Wald-Wittkop; she is in charge of the  Somerset County land acquisition programs for the  NJ Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres projects and funding.

I asked her about the money that’s available. Basically, she told me I need to first find out if that land will be available to North Plainfield to purchase.

She suggested talking with Borough Administrator David Hollod, Borough Engineer Daniel Swayze and Borough Attorney Eric Bernstein to find out if they can approach the landowner, Robert McNerney, to see if he would be willing to sell us the land.

We DO have a right to take the property through eminent domain (with the support of the townspeople) and Green Acres WILL fund eminent domain property. It’s a long legal process though.

If the land is accessible, we’d need to find out if the town is willing to put up a temporary bond, until we get the money back from Green Acres. The process takes up to a year to get the funds approved.

If we work to get an open space tax on the ballot in November and work on an Open Space Recreation Plan, they will consider us for the 50% matching grant. As long as they see we are working on it, they will do this.

She said we would have a good chance to receive funding because of our dense population.

Ms. Wald-Wittkop is willing to come and talk with us about what we need to do IF we know we can get that property.

Culled from Wikipedia:

The Green Brook rises in the Watchung Mountains at an elevation of 410 feet (125 m) in Free Acres, (the border of Berkeley Heights and Watchung) and flows east forming the border of Union and Somerset counties.

The brook then flows in a southwest direction as the Blue Brook joins it at Seeleys Pond. As it flows along the border of Plainfield and North Plainfield, parallel to the mountain ridge, the Stony Brook joins it at Green Brook Park.

It continues southwest and becomes the border between Dunellen and Green Brook forming the Middlesex and Somerset county borders. The Bonygutt Brook joins it in Middlesex near Warrenville Road. The Bound Brook joins it at the northwest corner of Mountain View Park in Middlesex.

The brook then flows south before the Ambrose Brook joins it near Lincoln Blvd.

It then flows into the Raritan River in Middlesex at an elevation of 19 feet (5.8 m).

The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay (map is there) on the Atlantic Ocean.

The bay and river are named after the Raritans, a tribe of the Lenape, who lived in the immediate area around the bay during the 17th century at the time of the arrival of the Dutch colonists.

New York Times archived article from July 18, 1999. (Emphasis added to flood and trichloroethylene-related sections).

AFTER two years of legal wrangling, the fate of 78 vacant acres along Route 22 in Watchung where the Lockheed Electronics complex once stood has been decided.

Later this month, work is expected to start on filling the site and 12 adjacent acres with a 750,000-square-foot shopping center, the largest commercial development in the Somerset County borough in nearly four decades.

In June, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided not to hear the case against the planned $90-million center, known as Watchung Square.

The decision ended the lawsuit filed by neighboring North Plainfield and two residents — one from Watchung, the other from North Plainfield — and cleared the way for the project to proceed.

Watchung Square will be a ”power center,” which the International Council of Shopping Centers in Manhattan defines as an open-air retail strip with 250,000 square feet of space or more and three or more large specialty stores.

The project, which is nearly fully leased, will have 17 stores, including a 125,000-square-foot Target department store, a 124,000-square-foot Home Depot, a 66,000-square-foot supermarket and a 10,000-square-foot Model’s sporting goods store. There will also be a 16-screen Regal movie complex, said Sal A. Davino, who is managing partner of Watchung Square L.L.C., the entity created to develop the project.

Mr. Davino, a longtime shopping center developer who also heads Fidelity Land Development of Chatham, said Watchung Square would be completed in 18 months, nearly seven years after he got involved with the project.

The start of a center this size indicates the faith of the developer in the strength of the retail market in the state in general and in Somerset County in particular. But the time it took to get the project to this point also shows that the development climate is becoming more complex as the supply of land to develop dwindles and community concerns rise.

Those concerns range from providing adequate drainage and controlling traffic to preserving the quality of life of residents in the community as well as in neighboring communities — all of which were issues in the Watchung project.

Mr. Davino said he had stayed the course through the litigation as well as a two-and-a-half-year approval process because of the site’s location, on a major retail corridor in a county with strong demographics. Some 213,500 people with an average household income of $68,927 live within a five-mile radius of the center, he said.

”Sure, there is a lot of retail along the corridor,” Mr. Davino said. But in between the cluster of stores in Union Township and the enclosed Bridgewater Commons Mall in Bridgewater ”there are no power centers,” he said.

ACCORDING to the International Council of Shopping Centers, power centers and retail shopping strips are the dominant form of retail being constructed today. Such centers continue to grow nationally, albeit not has rapidly as they had in past, with 54 power centers built in 1998, compared with 81 built in 1997. Last year, however, only 11 enclosed regional malls were built, according to data from the council and the National Research Bureau, a publisher of shopping-center data based in Chicago.

Mr. Davino contracted to buy the 78-acre site in 1994 from Lockheed Electronics, a subsidiary of what is now Lockheed Martin, which closed its old complex four years earlier and worked with Watchung officials to have the site rezoned from industrial to highway commercial use, including retail. After that, Lockheed razed the complex and cleaned the site, which contained levels of trichloroethylene, a cleaning solvent, to accommodate the shopping center.

Designed by Patrick Marchetta of Lynhurst, the center will comprise six low-rise buildings scattered at the edges of the sloping site, with parking for 3,300 cars in front of the stores and at the site’s core.

It was approved by the borough’s planning board in 1997.

Anthony F. Addario, the Mayor of Watchung, said he supported the project because ”its retail use fits like a glove” on the borough’s half-mile stretch of Route 22, where stores predominate. He said it would generate ”tax revenue that will exceed the municipal services required to accommodate the shopping center.” Estimates are that it will generate $1 million in new tax revenue a year, helping ”to keep a lid on property taxes,” he added.

Some residents of Watchung opposed the center, as did residents and local officials in North Plainfield, who were concerned that so large a project would substantially increase traffic and create water runoff problems. Others also wanted the project scaled back and the movie theaters excluded.

While conceding that there would be more traffic, Mayor Addario noted that the developer, to gain his approvals, agreed to environmental, design and traffic concessions. They range from carving out two retention basins so that the runoff would be less than it would be if the property were left undeveloped to making $5 million in off-site road improvements, among them the widening of a stretch of Route 22 to six lanes from four.

Mr. Davino said he had also acquired the 12 additional acres from Lockheed to relocate the movie theater to the southwest corner of the site, farther away from residences. He added that six acres in the northwest corner of the site, where the movie theater had originally been situated, has been donated to the borough.

The concessions did not satisfy all objectors and after the project was granted its approvals North Plainfield and the two residents sued. They contended that, among other things, Watchung had acted in an arbitrary manner in granting the approvals.

Janice Allen, the Mayor of North Plainfield, said the key issues for her community were traffic and drainage problems. The latter is of particular concern since North Plainfield lies in a flood zone, she said. ”We pursued any and all legal means,” she added, arguing that North Plainfield would be hurt by the project, but receive none of the benefits it will generate. Now, she said, her concerns are focused on the issue of groundwater contamination.

THOUGH the soil on the Lockheed site has been cleaned, contaminants have filtered into the groundwater below and are migrating off site, affecting the groundwater in North Plainfield. But Mr. Davino said — and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection confirmed — that Lockheed is putting in more monitoring wells to identify the source of the contamination, and once located, has agreed to install a pump and treatment station.

”Regardless of the process the developer can move ahead with developing the site,” said Loretta O’Donnell, a department spokeswoman.

Mr. Davino said that the years of negotiation and litigation had added to the cost of the project, which increased from $75 million to $90 million. The cost included the acquisition of the additional land. He said he would close on both parcels this month. It also required the ‘’shifting around of some of the financing” to build the project, which he said is coming from his own equity and bank loans.

But with construction soon to start, Mr. Davino sees a silver lining. ”The retail market is that much stronger,” he said, noting that the majority of his tenants remained with the project.

The retail vacancy rate along the 21-mile Route 22 corridor from Union to Somerville is 5.2 percent, down from 7.3 percent a year ago, according to Brunelli & Company, a retail brokerage in Old Bridge. Rents range from $12 to $25 a square foot. ”The demand is for power centers,” said Richard J. Brunelli, the firm’s president, ”and it is coming from big-box retailers, which continue to drive the market.”

He said that in addition to Watchung Square, three other power centers — two in Bridgewater, one in Somerville, together totaling nearly 2 million square feet — are under way or planned in Somerset County. While the county’s population is growing and new retailers, including Best Buys, an electronics chain based in Eden Prairie, Minn., continue to enter the New Jersey market, the last center built will have trouble leasing, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Davino said the sign on the Watchung site that for the last five years has announced the arrival of the retail center will finally be coming down. Instead, he said, ”There will be buildings going up on the site.”

An account of comments made about Villa Maria development during the June 9 Council meeting.

Developer Robert McNerney’s application will be on the Planning Board’s June 25 agenda, 7 p.m. at Vermeule.

During public comment, Fred Jones brought up developer Robert McNerney’s plan to apply for permits to build 55 single-family homes at the site, pointing out that the three main scenarios for the parcel in recent years have been 225 age-restricted condominiums, 55 single-family homes, and a park in the wooded portion of the parcel nearest to Stony Brook combined with a handful of large, half-acre or one-acre single family lots along Interhaven and Grove.

Mr. Jones noted that the market value of the property is now a matter of public record, since McNerney bought the property in late March for $3.93 million (far below the estimated value of tens of millions thrown around previously).

He said there’s an opportunity for the Borough to intervene by coming up with a proposal to preserve the wooded area as a public park for Borough residents (pointing out that there are many Borough residents who live in apartment complexes north of Route 22, where there are no parks) and either permit McNerney to build large-lot homes, or take the property through eminent domain and then sell large lots to individual builders.

Mr. Jones offered to work with Council members to help them network with county and state funding sources. He advocated adoption of a small municipal open space tax (to make the Borough eligible for open space funding). And he advocated the Shade Tree Commission ordinance as a means to protect the woodlands from destruction, emphasizing that the Council members’ purported concern about loss of Mayor and Council authority to Shade Tree Commission members is misplaced, since all commission decisions would be appeal-able to the Mayor.

“If you’re worried about loss of control, just read the ordinance,” Mr. Jones said. “I’m sure you [Council members] don’t want 55 houses…We have time, but it’s not on our side. I’d like to recommend that we move on this.”

Bill Campbell of Green Brook agreed with Mr. Jones, noting that former Green Brook Mayor Pat Walsh, who attended Planning Board hearings last summer to object to the ARC development plan, is now a Somerset County Freeholder with new contacts and resources she could leverage on North Plainfield’s behalf.

Mentioning the Supreme Court’s recent rulings in favor of eminent domain for public purposes, Mr. Campbell emphasized “You can do it. You have the right to do it.”

Mr. Campbell also pointed out that, if single-family homes on average house one child each, McNerney’s proposed development would add 55 children to the public school system. Estimating $10,000 per child, [it's actually $13,841for 2008-2009] he said that would add up to at least $550,000 per year [actually at least $761,255] in added school budget costs for Borough taxpayers.

Mr. Campbell contrasted that with the likely smaller annual principal and interest payments taxpayers would incur on a $4 million loan to purchase and preserve the wooded portion of the parcel and permit a handful of large-lot homes along Interhaven and Grove. [Such a loan would also eventually be paid off, unlike school costs, which are an ongoing public obligation.]

“So it does seem that the cost of money is lower than the cost of schooling those children,” Mr. Campbell said.

Barbara Habeeb (prior to her appointment to the Council, which was among the last items on the agenda) agreed with Mr. Jones and Mr. Campbell, adding that she’s done “a gazillion research” on possible ways to save Villa Maria and concluding: “I think that this is something that we can do together, as at team.”

[Ms. Habeeb later observed that the Borough currently does not need to provide additional affordable housing as per the Council on Affordable Housing's Third Round Rules, although we are obliged to rehabilitate existing low-income housing. Ms. Habeeb is currently seeking a copy of the settlement that ended the Villa Maria nuns' 2003 COAH lawsuit.]

At the June 9 Council meeting, Margaret Mary Jones (a past and perhaps current member of the Somerset County Planning Board) noted that new COAH requirements will kick in IF the Borough permits new home construction, pointing out that COAH rules require one new affordable housing unit for every five market-rate homes built. In other words, if the developer builds 55 new homes, the Borough must see that 11 new affordable homes get built somewhere in the Borough, at Villa Maria or, if the developer refuses, elsewhere in the Borough.

“The burden will be upon the town to build those houses,” Mrs. Jones said.

Council members did not comment on the issue.

[Corrections and clarifications welcome, especially from Dr. Allen]

Dr. Harry Allen, Chair of the Environmental Commission, gave a presentation to the Council last night regarding trichloroethylene contamination caused by industrial processes at the former Lockheed Martin site (where Watchung Square Mall now stands).

TCE is present in the groundwater under Watchung Square Shopping Mall, North Drive, Crystal Ridge condos, Ray’s Sports Shop, Crab Brook, Regency Village condos, and as far west as the Villa Maria parcel.

Dr. Allen, Mayor Janice Allen and perhaps other Borough officials participated in a May 15 meeting with NJ Department of Environmental Protection officials to discuss progress to date on the 40-year remediation effort which has now been officially underway for 2.5 years, and to review the latest groundwater sampling data from 2007, summarized in a March 2008 report written (I think) by TRC Companies, Inc.

TRC is the contractor hired by Lockheed Martin to perform the environmental cleanup (link here - TRC Companies Inc.,) The company installed several monitoring wells to track the dissipation of the TCE throughout the area groundwater supplies, and installed one ground water recovery system (pumping station) in July 2003, at the intersection of North Drive and Route 22.

Information about trichloroethylene, known as TCE, is here, including TCE’s link to kidney cancer. The 1998 film A Civil Action dramatized the real-life experiences of the residents of Woburn, MA, battling corporate contamination of their groundwater with TCE.

Copies of Dr. Allen’s complete report are probably available upon request to Borough Clerk Gloria Pflueger. If anyone obtains a copy that way, or by calling Dr. Allen direct, please provide a copy to Grassroots Groundswell to make it easier for your fellow NP residents to access the information contained in the report.

Dr. Allen said the contamination - down to a depth of 200 feet - was first discovered in 1993, when an “industrial site recovery” effort began. Contaminated soil was removed and a “vapor recovery” effort conducted to vacuum off the TCE gases at the site.

The Environmental Commission got involved in the late 1990s, Dr. Allen said, to monitor the TRC company’s monitoring of the water quality. The Borough did not want to “go broke going after Lockheed-Martin,” by trying to establish and enforce liability against the “big guns” of a large corporation with deep pockets.

Instead, the Environmental Commission entered into a “friend of the state” arrangement, to partner with the DEP in jointly monitoring Lockheed-Martin’s remedial activities, and has taken an “amicable” stance toward Lockheed Martin, rather than an “adversarial” stance.

Dr. Allen said that in New Jersey, all groundwater is classified as “drinking water supplies” unless the state grants a waiver due to factors such as toxic contamination.

The state is considering granting one of those classification exemptions to the North Plainfield groundwater supplies contaminated by the TCE plume.

The latest data show that there has not been a significant reduction in TCE contamination levels over the last few years, and the size of the plume as of 2007 was larger than the plume size projected by statistical models.

The report presented last night apparently contained plume maps showing the size of the plume in 2003 and the size of the plume in 2007.

Again, anyone who obtains a copy of that report or any of the related reports reviewed at the May 15 DEP meeting or submitted to the DEP by North Plainfield officials, is strongly encouraged to send copies here for others to read.

Dr. Allen said he sent a written review of the situation to the DEP and expected to hear DEP objections to his negative findings, but got no response from the DEP, causing him to assume that the state officials agree with his negative assessments.

[Editor's Note: Interesting lesson there for those of us frustrated by non-responses from Borough officials regarding negative assessments of other Borough conditions.]

Dr. Allen said other upcoming measures may include:

• overlaying new sampling data with the electronic tax maps, to get a more up-to-date plume map;
• having the DEP sample all unsealed wells in the area, since only a small portion of area wells have been sampled;
• having the DEP re-evaluate the remedies being used, to see if there are additional measures that could be taken to clean up the contamination faster;
• having the DEP measure and analyze “vapor intrusion,” or the off-gassing of TCE into North Plainfield homes and businesses above the contaminated groundwater; and
• having the DEP step up measures to force Lockheed Martin to comply with environmental clean-up requirements.

Dr. Allen said the topic comes up for discussion at just about every Environmental Commission meeting.

The next EC meeting will be Wednesday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Vermeule Community Center, so readers interested in more information about this issues are strongly encouraged to attend that meeting.

Gary Lewis, member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, said the Zoning Board back in 2003 originally required monthly public reports to Mayor and Council, when the Zoning Board approved installation of a pumping station building for the groundwater sampling, located at the northeast corner of North Drive and Route 22. The pumping station is to pump ground water up, filter it to remove contaminants, and then pump it back into Crab Brook where Crab Brook flows under Route 22.

[Editor's Note: If those monthly reports have been submitted to the Council, it would be good to request copies for posting and review by interested readers.]

Monday morning I’ll be delivering the following letter to Mayor and Council.

It’s a summary of some of the things that could be done to coordinate an effective, community-supportive outcome to the Villa Maria dilemmas, and some of the people and organizations whose resources, expertise and decision-making authority could be brought to bear.

Public support for those individuals will help them find the courage to implement some of the protective measures.

Public apathy will give them plenty of room to miss those opportunities.

Word copy is here: Villa Maria Preservation Strategy - June 2008 along with a link to the referenced and downloadable Save Villa Maria letter.

June 9, 2008

TO:

• North Plainfield Mayor Janice Allen
• North Plainfield Borough Administrator David Hollod
• Members of the North Plainfield Borough Council, Chair Skip Stabile
• North Plainfield Borough Clerk Gloria Pflueger
• Members of North Plainfield Planning Board, Chair Tom Fagan
• Members of North Plainfield Environmental Commission, Chair Harry Allen
• Members of North Plainfield Board of Adjustment, Chair Mark C. Tighe
• Members of North Plainfield Shade Tree Advisory Board, Chair Thalia Saloukas
• Members of Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders
• Somerset County Planning Board, Robert Bzik, Director of Planning
• Somerset County Soil Conservation District, Ernest Thurlow, District Manager
• Members of Green Brook Flood Control Commission, Chair Joe Debler
• Members of Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, Board of Trustees
• Trust for Public Land, Cindy Roberts and Tom Gravel
• Preservation NJ, Executive Director Ron Emrich

RE: Villa Maria, Block 110, Lot 2, North Plainfield, Somerset County NJ

Dear Decision-makers,

Enclosed please find a copy of a letter recently sent to Richard Reilly, Bureau Chief at the NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Inland Regulation, urging NJDEP intervention to conserve the trees, soil and landscapes of the Villa Maria parcel. (A clearer copy of the tree map is available at http://communityrights.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/treemap.jpg)

The property owner, Robert McNerney, of Watchung Hills at North Plainfield, LLC, recently announced plans to construct 55 single-family homes at the site - the last remaining parcel of open space in our municipality, which has a population density of more than 7,000 people per square mile.

In the next few weeks and months, all of you will have opportunities to take part in the decision-making process surrounding the ultimate use(s) to which the land at Villa Maria will be put.

Members of the North Plainfield Borough Council, supported by the Mayor, can make protective zoning changes, including rezoning the land as “open space,” subject to open space protections and “historic district” subject to historic preservation protections. I believe there is New Jersey case law supporting zoning changes made during a pending development application and encourage Borough officials to track down that information.

Council and Mayor can also adopt an ordinance protecting shade trees within the Borough from destruction, as per the draft submitted regularly by the Borough’s Shade Tree Advisory Board, Chair Thalia Saloukas, which has been modeled on shade tree ordinances in effect in Watchung, Green Brook and other New Jersey communities.

Council and Mayor can also place on the November 2008 general election ballot a ballot question regarding implementation of a municipal open space tax, which, if approved by a majority of the Borough’s residents, would render the Borough eligible for open space funding programs.

Members of the Council, supported by the Mayor, may also legally require the developer, Robert McNerney, to place funding in escrow to pay for an independent community impact study, to enable an independent consultant to compile and analyze comprehensive data on the proposed project’s impacts on the local ecosystem, school system, public services system, traffic systems and other aspects of community life in North Plainfield. No such independent study has been performed to date.

Mr. Gary Szelc, a Trustee of the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC), can provide Council and Mayor with further information about this escrow-”community impact study” process.

Members of the North Plainfield Environmental Commission, under Chair Harry Allen’s leadership, recently applied to ANJEC for funding to conduct an Environmental Resource Inventory for the Borough. This project should be pursued to completion, as the findings may result in a designation of “critical slope” for the Villa Maria parcel, adding additional environmental protections to the site. According to a June 2007 written report by Borough Engineer Daniel Swayze, some portions of the brook-side property have slopes in excess of 30%.

Members of the Green Brook Flood Control Commission, under Chair Joe Debler’s leadership, and Somerset County Soil Conservation District Manager Ernest Thurlow can publicly testify, before the Borough Council, on the record, as to the role played by Stony Brook and the nearby tree cover and watersheds in preventing a worsening of the historic flood and soil erosion patterns along the Green Brook within North Plainfield and downstream communities.

The North Plainfield Planning Board, under Chair Tom Fagan’s leadership, and the Zoning Board of Adjustment, under Chair Mark Tighe’s leadership can, while the Borough Council and Mayor implement protective measures and pending the outcome of the independent community impact study and the Environmental Resource Inventory, postpone adding the Villa Maria residential development application to their board agendas.

Somerset County Planning Director Robert Bzik, along with Somerset County Freeholders and Planning Board members, can contribute information and support regarding Somerset County open space conservation, flood control and historic preservation programs. Members of these bodies can also provide further information as to the legitimate public interests that currently support eminent domain takings, which include prevention of ecological damage, pollution, school overcrowding and traffic congestion.

Cindy Roberts and Tom Gravel of the Trust for Public Land can provide public testimony, on the record during Council meetings, as to the potential role for philanthropic conservation organizations in conservation efforts at Villa Maria.

Ron Emrich of Preservation NJ can provide guidance as to the listing of the historic Villa Maria structures on historic registries for the purposes of historic protection, whether the interiors and exteriors are maintained in historic condition, or whether the interiors are converted for residential or commercial uses, while retaining the exterior historic facades, forests and grounds intact.

Best wishes in your continued endeavors to make decisions in the best interests of the people of North Plainfield.

Sincerely,

KW

Last week, while writing the form letter to Richard Reilly at the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, I rediscovered Borough Engineer Daniel Swayze’s finding that the slopes at Villa Maria are about 30%, which “grossly exceed” the allowable slope for water runoff and discharge. Mr. Swayze’s report noted that “final determination associated with stability approval shall be from the Somerset Union Soil Conservation District.”

So, I tracked down the Somerset County Soil Conservation District. The District Manager is Ernest Thurlow, and his mailing address is 308 Milltown Road, Bridgewater NJ, 08807. His phone number is 908-526-2701.

Or, you can e-mail him at SoilConsrv@co.somerset.nj.us

I wrote him an e-mail, attaching a copy of the Villa Maria letter.

And I sent a copy to Barbara Habeeb.

Here’s her letter to Mr. Thurlow:

May 21, 2008

Somerset County Soil Conservation District

308 Milltown Road,

Bridgewater, NJ 08807

Attn: Earnest Thurlow, District Manager

Dear Mr. Thurlow:

Attached please find a letter to the NJDEP objecting to planned deforestation for residential development at a parcel of land known as the “Villa Maria” property. It is located at 641 Somerset Street in North Plainfield, NJ.

As a concerned citizen, and candidate for Borough Council in North Plainfield, I have been fighting to prevent development at the “Villa Maria” site for a variety of reasons. For the purpose of this letter I will concentrate on one main issue.

Villa Maria is located on a floodplain. North Plainfield Borough Engineer Daniel Swayze, wrote a report in June 2007, containing his views of the proposed development, and his statement says that “slopes in the water run-off area are about 30%, and “grossly exceed” the “maximum allowable slope of 1.7%.”

The potential deforestation at the site will surely increase flood hazards within the Green Brook Flood Control Project Area, and will increase soil erosion along the waterways Stony Brook and Green Brook.

Consider the fact that there are approximately 500 very large trees with deep roots currently providing flood control for the surrounding area. As stated in Mr. Swaze’s report, the parcel is steeply sloped. The runoff from any building on the Villa Maria property would only add to an already serious problem.

I hope you can assist in this very important matter. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Barbara Habeeb

Readers are encouraged to follow Barbara’s lead and contact Mr. Thurlow, and, as always, if you want your actions to inspire others to act, please send a copy of your letter to the blog for posting.