Panel members disagree with
development ruling
Wednesday,
August 15, 2007
By SARA
K. SATULLO
The
Express-Times
HARMONY TWP. | The township environmental
commission disagrees with a recent state Superior Court ruling granting
conditional preliminary approval to a contentious 315-home development
proposal.
Commission Chairman Brett Bragin said
the board feels the township planning board was right in unanimously denying
the Riverwalk housing development.
"Here's a case of your
local home rule zoning being taken away by the Superior Court of New
Jersey," Bragin said.
Other commissioners agreed
the ruling did not take into account their objections, all of the hearings and
scientific evidence presented in the application process. The Riverwalk
proposal was rejected unanimously by the planning board in December 2004 based
on concerns about possible sinkhole formations stemming from the proposed on-site
sewage treatment plant.
"They were well founded
in denying it. That land is just not suitable for the development
planned," Bragin said after the commission's Tuesday night meeting.
The planning board is in the
process of appealing the court's decision that grants conditional preliminary
approval to the development. But in the meantime, on August 16, the board must
hear a revised storm water management plan from Dowel Associates, the
landowner.
At Thursday's hearing the
planning board will hear Dowel's revised plan and professionals on each side
will weigh in on the changes. Planning board Chairman David Bruckman said he
expects it to be a very technical hearing but wants to allow public comment on
the changes if there is any.
The court ruling states if
Dowel demonstrates the plan corrects the technical problems the planning board
must grant conditional subdivision approval. Even if Dowel does not show
compliance with certain requirements the planning board must grant the approval
subject to a state Department of Environmental Protection waiver.
The planning board is not
allowed to consider the groundwater system but it must condition the approval
on another DEP permit.