to Sept. 12 Planning Board meeting
Application continued
to Sept. 12 Planning Board meeting
By jane meggitt
Correspondent
UPPER FREEHOLD — The Board of Health must investigate the site of the proposed Redmond development on Chambers Road to see if there is any possible contamination, officials said.
Dr. Stephen Dey, chairman of the township Board of Health, appeared before the Planning Board Aug. 27 to inform it that individuals had contacted the Board of Health and cited "potential problems with tumor-type diseases they thought might have been caused by spraying of herbicides and insecticides on the farm to be subdivided."
Dey said the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had been contacted by those individuals and the DEP informed it this was a problem for the local Board of Health, not the state, at this time. Dey also said the Board of Health would look into the situation and make a report next month.
"If something happens tonight [an approval], it must be contingent on the issues of herbicides and insecticides," he said.
Deputy Mayor William Miscoski remarked, "We did that on Golf Edge Estates. Through spraying of peaches, certain areas had to be remediated."
Tom Herten, the applicant’s attorney, asked Dey what types of tests would be done. Dey replied, "That will be determined by us when we walk the property. We will determine what analysis we need."
Herten stated, "It’s a remediation issue, not a development issue. If the Board of Health comes up with a request we think is based on the wrong data, we have the right to challenge it."
Although the public portion of the hearing had been closed, it was reopened since this was new information.
Alice Bean, a Chambers Road resident, said, "I agree wholeheartedly with the recommendation that they do testing on any proposed development. It sounds reasonable. We do have cancer issues throughout our township."
Daniel Van Voorhis, who chaired the hearing on the application after Chairman Richard Stern recused himself, told the applicant he was surprised how long Township Engineer Glenn Gerken’s comment letter on this site was.
"[The Planning Board] doesn’t like to see a lot of comments that must be addressed by resolution," he noted.
Miscoski agreed, saying, "I don’t like giving approvals with a lot of ‘subject-to’s,’ — things get lost in the cracks."
Mayor David Horsnall commented, "About a year and a half or two years ago, we got very serious regarding issues on preliminary [approval] — whether mild or serious. Since that time, we have not done conditions."
Horsnall did praise the developer for coming to meetings, site visits, and working with the Planning Board. Miscoski added, "There’s too much paperwork, and things get lost. Get it done and then we can approve it."
Issues in Gerken’s letter included, among other things, the bend of the road on Chambers, grading easements for driveways and the township right of way.
Horsnall said some issues would require action by the Township Committee. Herten believed the technical issues could be resolved by their engineer, Chester DiLorenzo, by the end of the week, and requested the application to be extended to the Sept.12 meeting.