Grassroots Groundswell

By Emory Layne

Folks, in our eagerness to join the grassroots groundswell that has gone beyond being planted in North Plainfield, and is now blossoming, let’s remember to stay focused on the root causes of the situation that sowed the seeds of discontent in the first place.

Each and every situation that we now debate, every problem for which we seek a solution, can be traced back to a common cause:

Individuals or small groups of people who, through a combination of deceit, secrecy and double-talk, took it upon themselves to run North Plainfield in a way that did not and does not reflect the desires and needs of the vast majority of its residents.

We must remain focused on removing those individuals from positions of authority, and making sure that anyone who replaces them is truly different and truly what we need.

A case in point would be the Villa Maria situation. Most recently, I read that there is a suggestion to use the property for a stand-alone middle school for the Borough; subsequently, there is discussion of the pros and cons of such a thought.

Using this as an example of ‘staying on point,’ here’s my take: North Plainfield doesn’t need a stand-alone middle school.

First, the comment about high school and middle school children interacting too much is the only time I’ve ever heard that from any person with children at these grade levels. We can’t start branching off onto different tracks because of one person’s stated belief any more than, say, the town should immediately begin seeking a new team mascot for the high school because Emory Layne thinks a woodcutter is silly.

Second, residents’ taxes are already high in part because of past expansions and renovations to schools; taking on more expense for a reason other than dangerous overcrowding is just plain dumb.

And third and most important, remember why we’re debating this Villa Maria issue at all in the first place. That’s “the point” we must remain on.

The issue was not one of different people having different opinions.

The problem is that the residents were kept in the dark.

Has everyone forgotten the Council meetings held with the bare minimum notice posted on public holidays?

Or the attempt to force through a zoning ordinance change without there being anyone from the general public in attendance?

How about public statements that reflected either ignorance (the need to meet COAH standards which had already been met, for example) or gratuitous lying?

And let’s not forget being kept totally in the dark about things like back taxes (about which we only receive information when officials are pressed by NPCCR members), slanderous comments by public employees, and even threats from lawyers toward concerned residents.

ALL of this came to our attention because of the Villa Maria property.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED for any action to be taken on the Villa Maria property between now and November, except perhaps to collect back taxes that are owed on the property.

No need whatsoever. Our current administration has shown repeatedly that it feels the best way to address any issue is to form a committee to ‘look into’ the situation . . . do the same here. Form another bogus committee to meet occasionally and flap gums about the topic.

There will be no tragedy if the property sits for a few more months as it has for the past few years.

We need to focus our attention and efforts to continue exposing the kind of political and administrative shenanigans that permeate this situation and numerous others.

It’s painfully simple. Whether the Villa Maria, or borough hall renovations, or enforcement of zoning ordinances, or management of legal contracts, or traffic enforcement, or school board decisions or any of a ton of other smelly issues in North Plainfield, the KEY is rooting out the people behind the questionable or completely screwed up actions and holding them accountable.

And the best way to hold them accountable is to extricate them from their positions as both the policy makers and paperwork protectors.

As we draw closer to the November elections, I and others I know will be posting some personal situations and interactions experienced over the years with the current administration; these are things that rarely if ever have seen the light of day.

Dirty politics? Hardly. If sharing documented, verifiable situations is “dirty politics,” then hidden agendas, refusal to release information and taking actions totally at odds with the taxpaying population are politics so filthy that even Billy Mays would back off.

I invite those of you who have had similar experiences, but might find it difficult to present them in article format, to communicate with me at emorylayne@comcast.net. I’ll be glad to assist in editing, and present them in whatever manner you are comfortable with.

Why?

Because this is the whole point. No matter how many different opinions and different points of view may arise in any given situation, something resembling a solution can’t be achieved without addressing the common basis for them all - the clique of politicians and employees who have held unaccountable power for far too long in North Plainfield.

Step One will be defeating the loyal followers of this group in November.

Step Two will be holding those who win to the standards North Plainfield residents deserve.

And Step Three will be NPCCR’s continued efforts to determine what was done or not done when, by whom, and whether or not those people can be further held accountable, apart from losing their political positions.

Stay on point. Expose the mismanagement. Expose the arrogance. We’ve lived with this mess for a decade or more; waiting a few more months isn’t impossible.

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.

Developer Robert McNerney and his attorney, Brian Chewkaskie, will be at the Planning Board meeting at Vermeule Community Center on Wed, June 25, at 7:30 p.m. to present their application to build 55 single family homes at Villa Maria.

Notice is attached: Villa Maria 6.25.08 Notice

If you want to see the application materials, they’re on file at the Zoning Office at 263 Somerset between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., and if you get copies of anything that you want shared with blog readers, please get copies  to me for scanning and uploading. Contact me at communityrights at gmail.com for snail mail information if necessary. Copying fees are reimbursable - contact NPCCR Treasurer Gary Lewis at underyourroof at yahoo.com to submit receipts and get reimbursed.

At tonight’s Council meeting, Councilwoman Barbara Habeeb brought up the idea of requiring a Community Impact Study, to be paid out of the developer’s escrow funds, and to be done by an independent consultant chosen by the Borough officials. Such a study would collect and analyze data on the project’s impact on schools, taxes, fire, police, ems and public works services, ecology, traffic, flooding and many other issues.

Borough Attorney Eric Bernstein informed Barbara that such a study would fall under the Planning Board’s jurisdiction, not the Borough Council’s, but noted that several members of the Council are liaisons to or serve on the Planning Board, and said those people could relay the idea to the Planning Board chair, Tom Fagan.

I can’t be at the Planning Board hearing, so someone else who attends will have to take notes, and write up what happens if other non-attendees are to find out what transpires.

However, the Community Impact Study is something specific people can rally around and lobby for at the meeting. It’s a positive, data-gathering step within the Planning Board’s jurisdiction that would also not cost the Borough any money to conduct, and would give the Planning Board solid evidence on which to base their judgments and decisions about the project.

So it’s well worthwhile to go and pitch in your two cents to say “Community Impact Study sounds like a good idea! Do it!” in addition to whatever other comments you’d like to make.

Also, at the Council meeting tonight, Sheila Caprio - who coaches middle school girls’ sports in North Plainfield - spoke up and pointed out that the middle school and high school kids are mingling a lot, to the detriment of the younger kids, exposed too early to the influences and hostility of the older kids in the overcrowded classrooms and hallways.

She advocated that the Borough try to obtain Villa Maria to create a freestanding middle school, complete with athletic fields, to protect the younger kids and ease the overcrowding. It’s another idea to consider, and possibly a compelling public use/reason for eminent domain that would find support in our Borough Master Plan documents, particularly the 1974 drafts which highlighted the extreme shortage of school expansion acreage in the Borough.

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.

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

Reposted from comments on an earlier post:

“Seriously” wrote:

Isn’t this just what the original zoning allowed? So basically, for whatever reason (probably the decline in demand for senior housing), the developer decided to do exactly what he could have done 5 years ago without the need of any ordinance or zoning change from the town. Shouldn’t you consider this a victory? The condos aren’t being built! This is how private property works people- do we want to have a government that can confiscate private property for any reason, just because we dont like what one private property owner is doing? I think the houses are better in the long run than condos, anyway, since condos often end up getting run down and crappy in about 15-20 years.

KW response:

Single Family homes is what the original (R-2) zoning allowed. But it is not what Villa Maria conservationists want.

From the beginning, we have been fighting to preserve the trees and, if possible, the historic structures at the site, and we have been urging town officials to engage in the fight on the side of ecological conservation and historic preservation, instead of on the side of residential or commercial development.

Although we haven’t seen the site plans yet, 55 single-family homes will likely be just as destructive to the ecosystem and the history as the condo plan was.

So, the fight ain’t over. Delays help, but the ultimate goal is tree conservation and historic preservation:

• to retain the last parcel of open space,
• to cap the Borough’s population (already highest in Somerset County at more than 7,000 people per square mile),
• to retain the trees’ flood control services along the Stony Brook (which currently absorb much of the stormwater runoff into Stony Brook and thus the downstream Green Brook and all the flood-prone communities through which Green Brook flows), and
• to protect the Borough’s unique identity as the community that is home to the historic Villa Maria Sanatorium, even if that sanatorium structure is converted on the interior to apartments or offices or a conference center or some other profitable income stream for the private property owner.