BY LAUREN MATTHEW
Staff Writer
OLD BRIDGE – Atlantic Realty, the Woodbridge-based company behind the Woodhaven development, has given the county an outline of how it will resolve road and wetlands issues in the new community.
According to a letter sent April 5 by Woodhaven principal Bill Iafe and addressed to Middlesex County Supervising Planner Stan Olszewski, Woodhaven Village Inc. has replaced a guardrail, made road repairs to Old Bridge-Englishtown Road and removed gravel from a stream.
The work comes in response to county citations asking Woodhaven to complete road improvements that were conditions of its approval, and also in response to two notices of violation from the state Department of Environmental Protection. According to the DEP, the Woodhaven builder is in noncompliance with the Flood Hazard Area Control Act and the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act.
The DEP alleged that Woodhaven added fill to wetlands. But according to Iafe, that is not the case.
“Woodhaven did not place the gravel in the stream and I have no knowledge of how it got there, but it has been removed …” he said in the letter.
Iafe said any improvements that have not yet been made will be finished within the next few weeks.
That work includes the relocation of cable and telephone lines that are currently on poles in the way of a proposed roadway.
“As soon as the Cablevision and Verizon lines are relocated and the poles removed, the milling and paving to accomplish the road widening will begin,” Iafe explained in the letter. Any remaining drainage work will also be finished in the coming weeks, he said.
Iafe noted in the letter that Woodhaven has contacted the DEP and asked for a map of the site with markings for areas of violation.
“Woodhaven believes it has and continues to act in compliance with applicable regulation and will work with NJDEP to resolve the issues raised by the department,” Iafe wrote.
Mayor Jim Phillips said he is still waiting to learn whether the DEP will stop Woodhaven from moving forward with construction. He takes issue with the age of Woodhaven’s general development plan approval.
“Is a 17-year-old approval still valid?” the mayor asked.
Since the original GDP approval, he noted, laws regulating the treatment of wetlands areas have changed drastically. Phillips said he wonders if Woodhaven might have to go back to the beginning of the approval process and redesign its application.
And, he said, Texas and Englishtown roads must be widened as soon as possible to accommodate future growth in the area.
Residents in the Woodhaven area have repeatedly complained to the township Planning Board about poor road conditions, specifically in the area of Texas and Old Bridge-Englishtown roads. They have said traffic is already a problem and do not want it to worsen with further development.
Middlesex County is involved because Texas and Old Bridge-Englishtown roads are county roads, and Woodhaven had to receive building approval from both the township and the county.
The Woodhaven development has been moving in two stages: approval for Woodhaven I was granted in 1993, while approval for Woodhaven II is still pending before the township’s Planning Board.
Phase I, much of which is built out, consists of 73 single-family homes, 19 patio homes, 12 duplexes, 70 townhouses and 136 flats. Woodhaven II calls for 113 single-family homes, 292 townhouses and 358 multifamily homes. The builder also has plans for 118,050 square feet of retail space on 27 acres of land fronting Texas Road.
In light of the recent findings at Woodhaven, the county asked Old Bridge to cease issuance of certificates of occupancy for the development, and the township has complied.
Planning Board Chairman Lawrence Redmond has said the board has not been told by the state or county to deny the Woodhaven II application. Phillips has said he would do “whatever’s necessary” not to grant further approvals to Woodhaven until all issues are resolved.
“There’s not much I can do to an approval that was given 17 years ago,” Phillips said. “But if they haven’t met their conditions of approval [that’s a different story].”
Atlantic Realty representatives did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.