Mansfield Township Committee hopes to protect Hedding from development and preserve its natural resources.
By: William Wichert
MANSFIELD As they prepare a response over the coming weeks to the state plan that designates where future development should go, township officials hope to work with the county to convince the State Planning Commission to change its current plan for development of the Hedding section.
The township’s plan is mostly consistent with the state plan, officials have said, but the Township Committee agreed in November to recommend to the state that the planning designation for Hedding be changed to protect this northern section from development and preserve its natural resources.
This agreement came in response to the demands of several Hedding residents that the Hedding designation be changed from Planning areas 2 and 3, which allows for some development, to a Planning Area 5, which could keep the area preserved.
The fate of development in the Hedding area was expected to be one of the main topics of discussion on Wednesday, Jan. 5, when township officials and professional consultants met with Burlington County representatives to review the plan that is prepared by the State Planning Commission every six years. The meeting was scheduled to take place after the Register-News’ deadline.
"It’s part of a puzzle we’re all trying to put together," said Township Planner Harry McVey on Tuesday, adding the township and the county are mostly in agreement over the state plan. "I don’t think we’re that far apart. There’s not large gaps in my opinion." The county is expected to submit its own overall response to the state early next month at the latest, he said.
Mr. McVey said the county would most likely support the township’s recommendation that the Hedding designation be changed as long as the township figured out a way to revamp its proposed Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program.
Under this program, landowners sell "credits" based on the value of their property to developers who can use those credits to build in the "receiving areas," which are the sections of a municipality that are designated for development. The landowners’ property is then protected from any future development.
In Mansfield’s current TDR proposal, which the township has been working on for about seven years, the Hedding section and the area surrounding the village of Columbus would be the two "receiving areas" in the township.
"We as a township are rethinking how we want to put the TDR receiving areas," said Mr. McVey. "We’re leaning against that (the Hedding section) as a receiving area."
If the township did not make Hedding a receiving area and preserved it indefinitely as open space, it can designate two other sections as receiving areas: the area around the intersection of Routes 206 and 68, and the western area between the New Jersey Turnpike and Interstate 295, he said.
"Those were always areas targeted for future development," said Mr. McVey, who said both of these areas should each meet the need for a sewer system demanded by any new development.
A residential developer is currently investigating the prospect of installing a self-sustaining sewer plant around the intersection of routes 206 and 68, and development around I-295 is expected to receive sewer service from the sewer treatment plant at the county landfill, which is located on the border of Mansfield and Florence townships, Mr. McVey said.
Both of these projects would be included in the township’s wastewater management plan, which has been awaiting approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for several years, he said.
In any attempt to change the designation for Hedding in the state plan, however, township officials will have to face D.R. Horton, which has already received approval to build the 690-house Crystal Lake development in that area. Horton’s application for a wastewater management system within the development was rejected by DEP in November, because of its effect on the bald eagle habitat in Hedding.
Township Committeewoman Terri Tallon-Hammill, a Hedding resident who was sworn in for a three-year term at a special meeting Monday, said in a phone interview Tuesday that she thought the township would prevail, because the county is still in negotiations to purchase the Crystal Lake property for preservation purposes.
"We know the county is very interested in purchasing that property," she said. "I think the township is working toward being able to help keep that area preserved. No one wants to see Mansfield developed out."