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Harmony Grasslands and Woods Legal Complaints

From: Reggie Regrut <rregrut@yahoo.com>
Subject: letter to editor
To: letters@express-times.com
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2009

“P.R.O. saves Harmony Grasslands with your help� is the plea offered to this year’s fairgoers at the Warren County Farmers’ Fair by REALsmart, The League for Real Smart Growth, a committee of the Phillipsburg Riverview Organization.
The Harmony Township Land Use Board and Mayor Brian Tipton have violated the township’s goals and objectives as
outlined in Harmony Township’s Master Plan. It “classified all of the township as rural or environmentally-sensitive.� It also states,“…the vast majority of residents strongly wish its rural character to be retained…�

One violation: the 5000 + acre Natural Heritage Priority Site centering around Garrison Road, west of Route 519 in
Harmony, is the last vestige of “critical habitat� for several threatened and endangered plant and animal species.Yet, the Harmony Township Land Use Board, in a series of approvals, has undermined the promise of protection
proffered by the Master Plan, making a mockery of the State Plan. Under the guise of farming, on land preserved with taxpayer funds, a 201,000 square foot greenhouse is under construction. Greenhouses are not farms; they are factories built on concrete.

Furthermore, in some recent Land Use Board approvals, the law firm representing the applicants is the same law firm that employs Mayor Tipton. This is a conflict of interest. In response, REALsmart has filed legal complaints to
overturn these approvals. The filed complaints can be viewed at www.proriverview.org by hitting “Harmony Legal Complaints� at the top of the webpage.

Reggie Regrut, Executive Director, Phillipsburg Riverview Organization Phillipsburg

Four Complaints in Lieu of Prerogative Writs and an over riding Environmental Rights Act case have been filed at the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division Warren County.

Docket # L-26-08
Harmony Greenhouse Complaint, January 8, 2008
(A 201,000 sq. ft greenhouse on a preserved farm)
Harmony Greenhouse Complaint Amendment, March 26, 2008
Second Greenhouse Amendment, August 26, 2008

Docket # L-119-08
Signature Estates Complaint, February 15, 2008
(A 21-home subdivision with a traditional design dependent on disqualification of a C-1 tributary and a buffer reduction)
Signature Estates Amendment , April 14, 2008
Signature Estates Counterclaim
Answer to Signature Estates Counterclaim, August 26, 2008

Docket # L-259-08
Bl 33 Lot 25 Complaint-Beers, May 30, 2008
(Lot coverage variance to almost 45% of lot threatening the C-1 with sediment runoff)
Opposition to Dismissal of Beers
Judge Denies Dismissal, Orders Transcription
Beers Affirmative Defenses
Transcripts Now? Letter to the Judge
Aaroe, Esq. on Mixing Metaphors
Answer to Mixed Metaphors
Aaroe: EIS Argument is Red Herring
Request Court Dismiss Complaint
Beers Transcripts Ordered
Transcripts made from Inaudible Tapes

Docket # L-260-08
Bl 35 Lot 1 Complaint-Bengivenga, May 30, 2008
(A minor subdivision dependent on approval of building the driveway in the tributary of the C-1 creek)

Docket # L-439-08
Harmony Environmental Rights Act Complaint, September 15, 2008
(Over riding ERA case including the above four Complaint in Lieu of Prerogative Writs cases and other fragmentation of the Harmony Grasslands and Woods)

Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's ERA Complaint
The Township Argument for Dismissal of ERA
State Asks for 30 days to Respond

Also proposed on the Harmony Grasslands:
PROPOSED COAH 315 UNIT DOWEL DEVELOPMENT
(To see previous court filings by the Eastern Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of PRO, see PRO website and click on Harmony Projects Committee in list of PRO committees on left hand side of page)
Appellate Decision, Sept 9, 2008
Petition to Supreme Court
Petition for Certification to the NJ Supreme Court, Oct 6, 2008
Reply Supporting Petition for Certification

Docket L259-08 (Continuation)

A-2478-08T3( APPELLATE OPINION FILED JULY 27, 2010) MICHAEL J. KING VSHARMONY TOWNSHI