Township Committee agrees to work on saving the natural resources and stop current development plans in the Hedding section of Mansfield.
By: William Wichert
MANSFIELD Under intense pressure from residents in the Hedding section of Mansfield, the Township Committee agreed on Monday to work on saving the natural resources in that community and stop current development plans as part of the municipality’s response to a state plan that outlines future growth in the township.
This major decision came at the third joint meeting of the Township Committee and the township Planning Board on Monday night, when officials met to prepare a response to the state plan handed down by the State Planning Commission every six years during a process known as "cross acceptance."
Township officials put off their response for another meeting, but the committee members unanimously approved a motion to recommend to the state that it change its current designation for Hedding from "planning areas 2 and 3," which allows for some type of growth, to a "planning area 5," which could earmark the area for preservation.
The committee’s action received a round of applause from the audience of over 30 residents, but officials have only begun the battle to defeat the 690-house Crystal Lake development that developer D.R. Horton already has approval to build in the Hedding area.
Officials said they were confident that they could stop the development, since Horton’s application for a wastewater management system was rejected recently by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
"This is not our development. I think we’re in agreement with the rest of the people in the audience. We don’t want to see it," said Mayor Arthur Puglia after a presentation by Hedding residents that culminated in a sung rendition of "God Bless America."
Pacing back and forth before both township bodies, Bob Arenge of Third Street, a representative of the Concerned Citizens of Mansfield Township, gave officials an overview of the environmental resources in Hedding that he said are worthy of protecting against development.
Mr. Arenge said the Crystal Lake area is home to three types of endangered species: the nesting bald eagle, the wood turtle, and the ironcolor shiner, a member of the carp family. The area is also considered a geological site of historic significance, since ancient fossils were found there in 2001, he said.
Mr. Arenge argued that the soil conditions in Hedding cannot handle growth of the size of the D.R. Horton community, which would require a wastewater management system. He pointed out that the township’s overall wastewater management plan has still not been approved by the DEP.
"Right now, you are with a ‘planning area 2’ and ‘planning area 3’ property to build 600 homes with no wastewater management plan. Not acceptable," said Mr. Arenge. "Soil conditions are not conducive to the type of growth you anticipate. In heavy rains, what happens? It’s called flooding."
Going head-to-head with D.R. Horton is complicated, however, since the Crystal Lake development was originally envisioned as a way to cover the township’s affordable housing requirements as mandated by the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). Mr. Arenge said blocking the development would mean the need to investigate new ways to meet the COAH demands.
"Have we looked at any other way to solve the COAH regulations? No. I don’t understand why," he said. "What I would like to say to you gentlemen is, ‘do the right thing.’"
Lou Glass, a planning consultant for the township, echoed Mr. Arenge’s point, saying the township needed to research ways to satisfy the COAH regulations without the help of D.R. Horton.
He said the township is currently responsible for 17 low- and moderate-income housing units, but that number will definitely increase, since a new COAH requirement states that municipalities must build one affordable unit for every eight houses that are built in the township.
"You’re already behind the eight ball. You have to get behind this problem now," said Mr. Glass, who stated that the township still needs a wastewater management system to satisfy the COAH requirements. "That’s the dilemma the township faces. How do you put low- and moderate-income housing in an area with no sewer?"
By not meeting its COAH responsibilities, the township puts itself at risk to developers who can take the municipality to court and get a court order, known as a "builders’ remedy," to force a development to be built, said Township Planner Harry McVey. If Mansfield wants to block the Crystal Lake development, it must still get protection from other developers, he said.
"We’ve got to immediately appeal to the judge for a one-year protection to work on an alternative COAH plan," said Mr. McVey, who said there many other options that the township can pursue. "There’s a whole range of opportunities."
Aside from the COAH requirements, the Township Committee’s decision on Monday is further complicated, because the township is still a defendant in a lawsuit filed several years ago by D.R. Horton and E’Town Properties Inc. of Westfield, the owner of the property, said Planning Board Attorney Michael Magee of Destribats, Campbell, DeSantis & Magee of Trenton.
The lawsuit was filed against Mansfield, Florence Township and the Bordentown Sewerage Authority (BSA) in order to get sanitary sewer service for the Crystal Lake development. The original lawsuit was dismissed two years ago, but the developers have since received two court orders that give them until September 2005 to get DEP approval for a wastewater management system, he said.
Mr. Magee said the township may be more likely now to defeat the development, since the DEP denied the developers’ request for a wastewater management system last month.
"The best thing that the (Township) Committee, the Planning Board, the Concerned Citizens have going is the expectation that they’re (the developers) not able to comply with their original approval," he said.
But toward the end of the meeting, Donald Pepe, in-house counsel for D.R. Horton, approached the microphone and told the township officials that the developer was still confident that it would get a DEP-approved sewer system by possibly downsizing the scope of the original proposal.
"We’re actually looking at this as an opportunity and this letter (from DEP) as a positive thing," said Mr. Pepe. "We are looking at this letter as finally an opportunity to meet with them."