Prior to voting, committee members responded to comments and questions raised during several public hearings on the downzoning ordinances
By: John Tredrea
The Township Committee voted unanimously Sept. 20 to adopt three ordinances that downzone three-fourths of the 58-square-mile township.
Prior to voting, committee members responded to comments and questions raised during several public hearings on the downzoning ordinances.
Under the ordinances, most of the northern one-third of the township has been changed from a residential zone requiring lots at least 3 acres to a residential zone requiring lots at least 6 acres. Most of the central one-third has been changed from 2-acre to 4-acre residential zoning. Several areas in the southern and central township have been changed from commercial to residential use, including 440 acres owned by Merrill Lynch east of Scotch Road and north of I-95, as well as a much smaller tract of land owned by Trap Rock Industries between its Pennington Mountain quarry and Route 31.
During the public hearings, proponents of the downzoning (reduction of permitted density) said it is needed to protect the township from overdevelopment and overutilization of resources, including groundwater. Opponents said the downzoning is, in some cases at least, an unfair, and perhaps illegal, infringement on property rights.
Before voting on the ordinances Sept. 20, Mayor Marylou Ferrara and the other four members of the committee responded to criticism leveled at the downzoning during the public hearings. The downzoning also drew strong support during those hearings.
As she has said publicly before, Mayor Ferrara said the litigation resulting from the first downzoning attempt, made last year, "didn’t cost the township anything it was covered by insurance we didn’t write a single check for it."
The mayor added: "We expect we may be sued again … you don’t make a decision like this based on a fear of being sued, but on the soundness of the ordinances."
Last year’s downzoning attempt was invalidated on a technicality in state Superior Court by Judge Linda Feinberg. In the spring, Judge Feinberg ruled the township had not sent legal notices on the downzoning to all property owners who should have received them.
Also during the Sept. 20 meeting, the mayor responded to criticism of the zoning change, from commercial to residential, of areas of the township along Route 31. "If the town is desirable, which Hopewell Township certainly is, people will build homes along a highway. Proof of that is in evidence now on Route 206 in Hillsborough and Belle Meade," she said.
The mayor also noted that the large development firm of Toll Brothers recently approached the township Planning Board with a proposal to build homes off state Route 31, near Marshall’s Corner Road in the central township. "Toll Brothers did withdraw that proposal when they learned of contamination problems on the site it used to be a dump but before they learned of those problems, they were moving ahead," the mayor said.
Like the other four committee members, Robert Higgins said he agreed with the mayor’s comments, then added some of his own.
Mr. Higgins denied that the new zoning’s requirement for 4- and 6-acre lots, as opposed to 3- and 4-acre lots under the old zoning, is "exclusionary." He said the ordinances adopted Sept. 20 "allow for clustered development, which could give us some leverage with developers to pursue affordable housing in the township."
Mr. Higgins added that, because of basic economic factors, so-called "affordable housing" is no more possible on 2- and 3-acre lots than on 4- and 6-acre lots.
Like Mr. Higgins, Committeewoman Fran Bartlett stressed the importance of the downzoning ordinances in terms of "protecting our groundwater resources … those resources could not sustain the amount of development" permitted under the old zoning, she said. She added: "I was elected based on my promise to fight sprawl and overdevelopment. These ordinances are an important first step in that effort."
Deputy Mayor Jon Edwards added: "Our goal is to protect the rural character of the township and to protect our water supply … the township was grotesquely overzoned for commercial development. Twenty-five thousand new jobs were possible. We have 3,000 jobs now. Jobs are good, but imagine the traffic impact of that many new jobs on our road network and quality of life."
Mr. Edwards added that, during his door-to-door campaign for a Township Committee seat several years ago, "I learned that traffic is as great a concern of our residents as overdevelopment … traffic and development are connected."
Committeewoman Kathy Bird noted that the township’s current stock of 2.5 million square feet of in-use commercial space is augmented by 6.5 million square feet of commercial space that has been approved by the township but has not been built yet. "Central New Jersey has been walloped by the overdevelopment boom of the mid-90s," she said. "We mustn’t be deterred by the fear of lawsuits."