Grassroots Groundswell

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.

Closed now. What will happen next? Borough Hall Annex? Youth Center? School for Adult English as a Second Language? Library? Affordable senior housing? Medical or professional offices? Charter school? Razed for single-family home construction?

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.

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.

Just in from Antoinette Rinehart, who is interested in carpooling with others who want to attend:

Saturday, June 14 from 10 am to 11:30 am at The Trenton City Museum, Ellarslie Mansion - Cadwalader Park, Trenton, NJ. - A Workshop on “Tips to Persist, Persevere and Preserve” Here’s their invitation:

PRESERVATION New Jersey, the statewide historic preservation advocacy group, is hosting a workshop for advocates of endangered historic sites. Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy (JCLC) board members will discuss efforts and strategies that have helped them navigate preservation battles to save landmark buildings and places in Jersey City.

The work of JCLC has become synonymous with historic preservation advocacy in Jersey City. The leadership has been successful in uniting citywide preservation campaigns, generating public awareness through tours and events and encouraging volunteerism for preservation. Join us to learn more about how JCLC has used these initiatives and others to create media and public interest towards preservation issues in the community.

A $10 registration fee will be charged. Call 609-392-6409 or email to swathy@preservationnj.org to register. For directions & information please visit, www.preservationnnj.org

Robert McNerney bought it two weeks ago.

Deed transfer documents posted here: Villa Maria Sale

More later - McNerney also had his private environmental consultant recertify the parcel’s wetlands status as “not,” so our community has just slid a few more feet down the slippery slope of the regulatory chute to McNerneyville. 

The first section of that package of documents is here: PetroScience Letter

I haven’t checked the news reports about the Saturday Rally to Save Muhlenberg Hospital in Trenton. If any readers have firsthand accounts, send ‘em on in.

Thinking about that - the likelihood that the hospital will closed - reminded me that there is a relatively well-fitted medical facility sitting vacant in the middle of North Plainfield right now: Villa Maria. A year ago, when NPCCR was still in the imagination phase, few if any people had any inkling that Muhlenberg might be closing. Many people advocated preserving the Villa Maria facility as a nursing home or assisted living facility, and that would still be a very useful thing for the aging population of the Borough.

But now Muhlenberg is on the block, and a much broader cross-section of the Borough’s population is looking to a future without access to nearby hospital medical services.

So, I started wondering about a few things, and would welcome input from readers who are nurses, doctors, medical technicians and otherwise knowledgable about the relevant areas:

1) If most of the basic nursing home equipment, beds, etc. are still in the Villa Maria, and more high-tech equipment might be available at reduced rates if Muhlenberg sells off its equipment, how feasible would it be to convert Villa Maria into a small, 120-bed community hospital? How much might that cost, and are there state or federal funding streams to establish community hospitals? How do those costs compare with the additional costs (and time delays receiving health care) that will be incurred by the Borough to transport people to Overlook, JFK and Summit?

2) What kinds of routine hospital services could be provided in a small hospital setting, and what kinds of illness and injury would require the more sophisticated facilities and services that Overlook, JFK and Somerset hospitals can provide? (Most of my experience as a hospital patient has been as a maternity patient, giving birth to my two kids. I think Villa Maria would make a lovely setting for a maternity ward, particularly if a midwife were practicing there in an ob/gyn clinic…) 

3) Is community medical care another additional grounds for eminent domain? (We already know that traffic congestion, school overcrowding, open space preservation and pollution are legitimate grounds for eminent domain in the case of Villa Maria.)

Looking forward to reader thoughts.

Just heard a few days ago that, within the last few days, Borough staff has reached out to the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC), on behalf of North Plainfield’s Environmental Commission, to apply for ANJEC matching grant funding to…drumroll please…conduct an Environmental Resource Inventory in the Borough!

As posted previously, an ERI is an essential prerequisite for the Borough to apply for and receive open space preservation grants from Somerset County and the state, and would provide the Borough with a lot of leverage to protect Villa Maria’s wooded critical slopes above Stony Brook from destruction.

Back in August 2007, Environmental Commission Chair Harry Allen acknowledged that the ERI process begun in the 1970s and feebly revived in the mid-1980s had not moved any further since then. (Word is, ANJEC hasn’t heard a peep from the NP Environmental Commission since 2004.) And pushing the Borough to conduct an ERI made it onto the priority list adopted by NPCCR members at the October 2007 Town Meeting, as covered here.

The deadline for submitting the grant application to ANJEC is this coming Monday, March 31. Although the Environmental Commission can file the application before they get a formal Council endorsement, they do have to submit a draft Borough Council resolution supporting the grant application by Monday, and then the Borough Council has to adopt that resolution and fax it in to ANJEC to complete the application package within the next few weeks. ANJEC even has draft resolutions available for the local commission to adapt.

So if you see any members of the Environmental Commission around town this weekend, let them know you support the application, check in and see if the application is ready to be filed and going to be filed on time.

If you see any Borough Council members, let them know you want the support resolution on the April 14 Council agenda.

And encourage the Environmental Commission to renew their lapsed membership with ANJEC, because it makes them eligible for lots of benefits like training and resource materials.

The EC members are: Dr. Harry Allen (Chair); Michael J. Bellew; Mabel “Skip” Hansen; Jean Liss and Mathy Stanislaus.

Hooray for movement from the Environmental Commission!!!

By M. Emory Layne

Readers of this blog should be able to recall the threatening letter sent to Katherine Watt by attorney Philip George (out of borough attorney Eric Bernstein’s office).

In a nutshell, the borough intended (or, at least, said it did) to file suit to seek reimbursement of legal fees from the lawsuit initiated by Ms. Watt and the NPCCR.

Whether they actually have taken that action is moot - the threat was very real and very serious. Few people receiving official communication from a lawyer representing a municipality would think it was “no big deal” and laugh it off.

Yet this is exactly what Mayor Janice Allen instructed Mr. Bernstein’s office to do - threaten Ms. Watt and her supporters.

One major question that remains: Mrs. Allen - why so selective?

In 2005

When Denise Gargano filed suit against the North Plainfield Board of Education, and eventually lost, none of us recall Mayor Allen coming forward to suggest that the Board of Ed or the borough seek reimbursement of the legal fees incurred by borough taxpayers as a result of this extended lawsuit.

In 1999

North Plainfield filed a lawsuit against the Fidelity Land Development Corp. over the Watchung Square Mall project. The borough attorneys failed to meet the deadline for responding to an offer of a $2.2 million dollar settlement from the developer. By the time the Allen administration managed to mail a piece of paper to the developer accepting the offer, the suit had already been heard and the Borough lost. No settlement!

Perhaps the taxpayers should’ve tried to ‘recoup’ the more than two million bucks the Allen administration lost by dragging its feet in responding.

(Janice Allen was also pretty ‘radical’ in her thoughts on how to stop that development. A 1999 Star-Ledger article reported: ”The developer of a shopping center on Route 22 in Watchung intends to start construction in May, but yesterday the mayor of neighboring North Plainfield greeted that schedule with three words: “Not so fast.” “If he tries to start in 60 days, there might be some picketers there,” said Mayor Janice Allen).

In 1995

Avid Allen-supporter Peggy Glicklich (wife of regular Democrat running mate Dan Glicklich) sued North Plainfield while attempting to remove the name change referendum from a ballot in North Plainfield. Mrs. Glicklich lost that suit as well, but Mayor Allen was apparently strongly behind its intent - one of the leaders of the anti-name change consortium at the time. That lawsuit ended up costing borough taxpayers $15,000 in legal fees, yet a search of news accounts since then fails to find a mention of any instruction from Mayor Allen to attorneys to seek reimbursement from Mrs. Glicklich.

Mrs. Allen - through the years, you’ve shown both a willingness to use or support the use of lawsuits when the desired result was in line with your own beliefs. (See also “Campbell appeal,” summarized here and in Barbara Habeeb’s recent letter to the editor.)

There is no evidence whatsoever that you’ve ever before felt the need to pursue reimbursement of legal fees from any litigant who cost the Borough money through a legal action. That is, until you instructed Eric Bernstein and Philip George to notify Katherine Watt and the NPCCR that you intended to do just that.

Why so selective, Mrs. Allen? If “legal costs” are so important, why have you never felt it necessary to go after them before, despite a number of opportunities?

If you were attempting to scare Ms. Watt and the members of the NPCCR, it’s pretty obvious by now that you’ve failed.

But it’s telling to note that you would resort to tactics that can only be defined as bullying while often citing your experience as a teacher.

A bully has no place in our society, Mrs. Allen, whether on a playground or in Borough Hall.

Footnote: Janice Allen was barely sworn in in January of 1997 before she named Eric Bernstein as the new Borough Attorney. Council members went on record objecting to the appointment because Mrs. Allen didn’t say how much Bernstein would be paid before submitting his name, later saying he would be paid “the same” as the previous attorney, $115 an hour. Why was it so imperative to have Bernstein on board so quickly, as one of her very first acts after being sworn in?

Found this document in the Council correspondence file from last July, when North Plainfield was right in the middle of the Planning Board hearings on Villa Maria at which dozens of local residents were clamoring for help and information from the Council to create and implement a land-conserving plan for the site.

Green Acres Funding Letter - July 2007

The letter is all about the Green Acres Program: a call for municipalities to submit applications for “land acquisition and the development of outdoor park and recreation facilities” by October 26, 2007.

“Eligible land acquisition projects include the purchase of natural areas, historic sites, conservation areas, water bodies, and open space for active or passive recreation.”

The second page lists the different types of programs, including special programs for “densely populated municipalities” with more than 5,000 people per square mile. (North Plainfield has more than 7,000).

Every member of the Council had a copy of this letter, and not one of them brought it forward to the community, let alone stepped into a leadership role to get the paperwork lined up and file the application.

Will they do better this year?