Downzoning needed further study

To the editor

By:
   On Dec. 31 at l:30 a.m., the Hillsborough Township Committee voted to downsize the agricultural zone from 3 acres to 10 acres, and the mountain zone from 5 acres to 15 acres.
   I think it can be said that none of the people present wanted "sprawl" in these areas, but over 100 people were at the meeting and only a handful were in favor of voting on the downsizing without further input from experts and the community.
   Many of the people who objected to the downsizing were the farmers who were the founders of this town and have farmed here for many generations. Sam Conard, one of those farmers, said the Township Committee was "stabbing the farmers in the back."
   Needless to say, the Township Committee voted in favor of downsizing, and even said it was for the good of the farmers, yet not one farmer supported their decision.
   Frank Banisch, a professional planner hired by the Township Committee, prepared a $150,000 report. He stated that this decision would not impact property values, but then quickly added he was not a professional appraiser. It seems to me, that if you could originally get 25 building lots out of 89 acres and under the clustering plan, you can get only 12, that the value of your property would be diminished. Was a study done by a professional appraiser as part of this decision? No.
   Hillsborough Township’s Farmland Preservation Program has been working in our community and many large parcels of land are already in the program. A recommendation was made to the Planning Board to conduct a study to determine how much money would be needed to purchase these properties for Farmland Preservation. Was one done? No.
   Under the new downsizing plan, there will be fewer lots per parcel; however, the homes will be clustered on smaller lots. This is a developer’s dream and they are willing to pay a premium for clustering since their site work costs, such as roads, drainage, curbs, etc. are greatly reduced when clustering homes. Was a study done to determine the cost of site work on 3-acre parcels vs. clustering of homes on smaller lots? No.
   Anyone who has ever been before the Planning Board in this town can attest to the fact that it takes many months and sometimes years for an approval of even a minor subdivision. They will also tell you that every time you appear, you are sent back to the drawing board to get another professional report done. Yet our Planning Board first presented this rezoning to the full session on Oct. 16 and by Dec. 31, almost half of the land in Hillsborough Township had been rezoned.
   There was very little in any of the newspapers about this plan and many of the residents did not even know it was happening. Property owners who did not live in this area and did not have access to the local paper legal notices, had no way of knowing this was taking place.
   Certified letters at a cost of almost $5,000 were mailed out notifying property owners of a Dec. 18 meeting, but they forgot the time in the notice so it had to be rescheduled and another $5,000 was spent notifying property owners of the Dec. 30 meeting.
   I think there should have been more time for residents to receive information about this plan, and more studies done to attempt to find a solution that did not take the equity from people’s land. It is very sad that an issue this important gets shoved down landowners’ throats on New Year’s Eve by the Democrats.
   This should not be about Democrats or Republicans, but about Hillsborough Township. A decision such as this should not have been made in haste.
   Additional expert reports, as well as community input, should have been done and reviewed before a vote was taken. Perhaps the entire master plan should have been examined. After all, the residential zoning has not changed and that is where the sprawl has taken place and continues to take place.

Diane Schilke
Wertsville Road