BREAKING NEWS:Opponents say state ignored deficiencies in application.
By: Leon Tovey
MONROE Opponents of the Thompson Park land swap are appealing the Statehouse Commission’s Jan. 5 decision to approve the controversial plan.
The Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, on behalf of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, New Jersey Public Interest Research Group and local group Park Savers, on Friday filed a notice of appeal with the Appellate Division of state Superior Court.
The notice argues that the Department of Environmental Protection ignored deficiencies in the county and township’s application to exchange 152 acres of wooded property owned by the township for a 35-acre parcel of Thompson Park when it granted conditional approval to the application on Dec. 29.
The Board of Education wants to build an $82.9 million, 365,000-sqare-foot high school approved by township voters in 2003 on the parcel, which is protected under the state Green Acres program.
Following the DEP’s approval Dec. 29, the bipartisan, seven-member Statehouse Commission unanimously approved the application a week later, with the condition that the township pay $1.127 million to the county in addition to the 152 acres.
In a statement released Monday, Richard Webster, the Rutgers attorney representing the appellants, zeroed in on that condition as proof that the land being offered by the township in the exchange was not of equivalent value, a requirement set for the exchange by Green Acres.
Mr. Webster called DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell’s decision to approve the application, "one of the last acts of a lame duck environmental commissioner."
Mr. Campbell stepped down from his position as DEP commissioner in January after Gov. Jon Corzine took office. He was replaced by Lisa Jackson.
The 152 acres offered by the township are divided into three parcels totaling 77 acres on Route 522 and a 75-acre parcel on Hoffman Station Road. The township acquired the land through its cluster-zoning ordinance, which allows developers to transfer building rights from one piece of land to another that they own and requires them to donate the remaining land to the township.
The Thompson Park parcel is currently home to six soccer fields.
Two firms hired by the county to appraise the parcels being considered in the exchange, Fleming White Appraisals Inc. of Colonia and JGT Management Co. of Woodbridge, put the value of Thompson Park parcel at $3.4 million and $3.458 million, respectively, according to the application. The assessment was based on the potential commercial value of the parcel, which is located in one of the township’s R-30 residential zones.
However, when assessing the land being offered by the township, which is divided into three parcels totaling 77 acres on Route 522 and a 75-acre parcel on Hoffman Station Road, the DEP required the assessment to be based on the land’s value for municipal uses. Fleming White and JGT assessed the total value of the 152 acres at $3.72 million and $3.927 million, respectively.
Opponents of the exchange have argued that the value of the 152 acres was inflated and that the Thompson Park parcel was undervalued in the appraisals. Mr. Webster said the commission’s requirement that the township pay the additional money proves that assertion.
Mr. Webster also cited concerns about whether the 152 acres is already preserved under state law regarding cluster zoning, whether the county and township’s application was incomplete, whether public hearings in November and December were held prematurely and whether the application failed to demonstrate that there were no feasible alternatives to the swap.
Peg Schaffer, an attorney with Shain Schaffer & Rafanello, the law firm that represents the township, said Monday that while the appeal comes as no surprise opponents have long threatened legal action to stop the exchange it is disappointing to township officials.
She said the township and county had followed Green Acres regulations and had worked closely with the DEP on the application. She said the required $1.127 million payment was intended to resolve a "philosophical disagreement" over assessments rather than a substantive one.
She predicted the Statehouse Commission’s decision would withstand legal scrutiny.
"It’s another hurdle for the township," Ms. Schaffer said. "I think that the township is going to prevail; unfortunately, it’s going to cost the township money in legal fees, but in the end, I think the court will decide in our favor."