Guest Column Herb Lazar Judgment on rezoning plan was premature

Guest Column
Herb
Lazar
Judgment on rezoning plan was premature

I am a member of the Manalapan Planning Board and write in response to the irresponsible editorial of July 24 which disparaged the efforts under way to preserve Manal-apan’s shrinking farmland and open space. (I write on my own behalf and not for the board or any of its other members).

It is beyond me how one could express any opinion on a plan that has not been completed, let alone voted on or approved. The Master Plan Revision was initially drafted, at the board’s request, by a subcommittee of the board, with the board’s planner, one of several consultants that advise the board on particular issues.

Neither the planner nor the subcommittee did nor can make final decisions for the board. In the public hearings held on the plan since we received the initial draft several months ago, it has been made clear that it is a draft, subject to hearing all the concerns of anyone that cares to express concerns. It has also been made clear that everyone that has a concern will be heard. It will not be rushed through; this is not a done deal.

In fact, in response to requests by some of the landowners, another subcommittee has recently been convened. This subcommittee has representatives of the Planning Board and the farmers. The goal is to produce a revised draft revision to the master plan that is acceptable to all sides in this issue.

Their report will be presented at a public hearing of the Planning Board when they have completed their work. The subcommittee has not even had the chance to report back as to any proposed modifications to the draft. Thus, your editorial criticized a plan that is bound to differ significantly from the one likely to be voted on sometime in the future.

You assert that the plan has a "laudable goal" but is "misguided." Yet, you provide no constructive suggestions. How do you expect to attain this "laudable goal?" Give us constructive suggestions. You don’t appear to have any. By sitting back and simply saying "that won’t work" without doing any of the hard labor necessary to try to fix the problem, you act irresponsibly and make our job more difficult.

Even worse, you fan the flames of fear by stating that farmers "are now in jeopardy of being made to pay a harsh price for refusing developers’ offers."

I like open space. I want to see farmland preserved. These are no-brainer positions like apple pie, motherhood and hot lunches for orphans. Everybody wants them. But that doesn’t mean this plan does or does not preserve farmland or open space or does so in a proper way. I need to learn much more about this plan.

Before I vote to approve or disapprove it (in whatever form it ultimately takes), I need to be convinced that it is fair and right for the town. I don’t want to hurt anyone, or any group of residents or property owners. I’m also chastened by the reality that, while regulation of the use of private property is appropriate, too much regulation becomes, in legal terms, a "taking," in which case the courts will either reject the regulation or force the town to pay the owner for the difference in value.

Please, wait until the details of the plan are finalized before making a judgment. I will.

Herb Lazar is a resident of Manalapan.