Millstone Township officials are planning to take legal action against the builder of Regency Estates.
On Nov. 22, Township Engineer Gordon Milnes told the Examiner officials are preparing litigation to be filed against Alden Development of Millstone due to "significant issues" left unfinished in the 22-home, two-street development in the vicinity of Scooter Corner near where Stagecoach and Paint Island Springs roads intersect.
Milnes said there are several outstanding problems that township officials have been unable to get the builder to rectify within the past year. He said a significant issue is drainage swales along Stony Brook Road and Whispering Spring Drive, although, he said, the swale along Stony Brook was "not that bad."
He said the drainage swales have been causing problems for the residents for years. He also said roads in the development need repaving and tree plantings.
Milnes said a default hearing had been scheduled because the work had not been completed in a timely fashion. He said all outstanding work at the development was to have been completed once all the homes were occupied, which occurred last year. Construction of the development began in the late 1980s, according to Milnes.
Allen Amaral, one of the principals of Alden Development, told the Examiner the firm is in the process of completing all of the town’s punch list items for the development.
"We’ve already taken care of a number of the items," Amaral said Tuesday.
He said the repaving of both roads will be done this week and that once that is done the seeding and tree plantings will be completed.
As to the issue of topsoil removal, Milnes said a permit is needed to remove topsoil from a site. He said the only time a permit is not needed is when the dirt is being removed in order to install wells or septic systems.
Milnes said residents of the development have been complaining for years that more than the allowable amount of topsoil has been removed from the site.
He said the township has a strict topsoil removal ordinance because officials want the soil to remain in town.
Milnes said the soil contains the nutrients necessary to make grass grow.
"Obviously the developer didn’t remove it all because there are lawns in the development," he said.
— Kathy Baratta