EAST BRUNSWICK–Equipped with slides, a soil scientist and a planner, former resident Rich Walling led an objector’s case against the Hidden Oak Woods development plan in East Brunswick.
The plan submitted by developer Alfieri proposes the construction of seven four-story buildings with 275 residential units, each building expected to be under 50 feet in height. Fifty four units would be affordable housing units. The property is approximately 45 acres, located at Harts Lane and Tices Lane and Eagle Road and Mill Brook Court, according to Township Planner Steven Gottlieb.
The proposed development also includes a clubhouse, an amenity area, a pool, lighting, landscaping, sidewalks, fencing and signs, according to attorney Frank Petrino, who represents the developer.
Planning Board Attorney Larry Sachs said the board has not yet voted on the proposed development plan because the applicant has not wrapped up its traffic testimony.
“An updated traffic report was recently submitted for the review of our professional staff. We still have to make some comments on that and that portion of the testimony will be heard at the next [board] meeting which will be on Jan. 9, 2019, at which time it is expected that there will be a vote on this application,” Sachs said. “As well, the public will certainly have an opportunity to comment and identify themselves.”
More than 20 residents attended the Planning Board meeting on Dec. 5, where Walling invited planner Heather Fenyk and soil scientist Stephanie Murphy to present environmental testimony regarding the development.
Petrino said he finds a lot of the information being provided by Walling in his objector’s case to be inaccurate and misdirected.
“They talk about the state plan and they imply that this site is not in an area that is appropriate for development. Well, the site is in the planning area. One, it’s partially developed with roads, underground utilities, and storm and water utilities. They teach it like a pristine site, it isn’t a pristine site,” Petrino said.
For the next board meeting on Jan. 9, Petrino said a statement will be made objecting all of Walling’s, Murphy’s and Fenyk’s testimony pertaining to the development.
Walling said he was the first to be hired as a historian by the township in 2001 and has his bachelor’s degree in urban planning from Rutgers University. He said he has been an expert witness at numerous boards and agencies in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, and has worked in Native American history, archeological and cultural landscapes.
“We are talking about the facts that are related to this very unique landscape that historically was called Hickory Swamp. … We know that because it appears in maps from the early 1900s. … We also know it by newspaper accounts going back to the early 1900s that this area was called Hickory Swamp,” Walling said.
Petrino said there is a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved delineation of the wetlands and the wetland buffer on the site. He said the applicant has a permit to fill a very small area of the wetlands, has all of it flood hazard area approval, and soil approval.
Fenyk said she has a master’s degree in city and regional planning, is American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certified, is a certified planner and has a doctorate degree in planning and regional development.
“In 1985, the legislature found that New Jersey must plan for its future to preserve and maintain its abundant natural cultural, economic and social aspects with a quality of life,” Fenyk said. “In response, it adopted the State Planning Act. The goals of the act are to preserve its natural resources, revitalize its urban centers, protect the quality of its environment, and provide adequate public services at a reasonable cost for learning beneficial economic growth and development.”
The purpose of the state plan is to coordinate planning activities and establish statewide planning objectives in that include land-use, housing, economic development, transportation, natural resource conservation, agriculture and farmland retention, recreation, urban and suburban redevelopment, historic preservation, public facilities and service, and intergovernmental coordination.
Fenyk said she works as a landscape/watershed planner and is the founder and president of the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership.
“Our observation of Hickory Swamp is that this is a natural area located in East Brunswick, part of the Lawerence Brook Watershed and the Lower Raritan Watershed, that’s watershed management area nine for the state,” she said. “We observed that it is geologically formed like the last ice age and contains wetlands, severe slopes and other unique natural features related to a Pine Barren environment. This area has been recognized in the state plan as a critical environmental site.”
Fenyk said the proposed Hidden Oak Woods site is contrary to all existing related policies and sound land use planning principles, therefore the site should not be developed.
“With respect to sound land use planning principles … the non-regulatory guidance that the state plan provides is ensuring that we are not fragmenting our habitat, trying to concentrate our development in those areas that already have significant development [and] not damaging pristine forested areas,” Fenyk said. “East Brunswick has on average 23 percent impervious cover, which has a tremendous impact on the stream system as it is right now. When you are adding more impervious cover that is not a sound planning practice, you want to be restoring your landscapes, concentrating your impervious activities where they already exist and try to maintain conductivity in a landscape context.”
Murphy said she has Ph.D., master’s and bachelor’s degrees in soil science. She said she has been working at Rutgers University since 1992 where she does outreach and education about soil, teaches an undergraduate class and runs a soil testing lab.
Murphy said she conducted a soil survey at the site and found there is a wide variety of soil ranging from clay pits, pure sands to hydric soil in the wetland areas.
“[If] any of this earthwork happens especially when you are thinking about the deforestation that’s going to happen for this development [and] where those buildings are actually going to go, and related for staging the construction, this does great damage to the landscape, the soils and all of the ecosystems services that natural areas provide,” Murphy said. “Any erosion, the loss of infiltration of water into the soil and the storing of water in the soil can be gone by this type of degradation.”
Murphy said the site is a critical environmental site.
After Murphy’s testimony, Petrino said the proposed site plan was approved by the DEP under its stormwater regulations, which means that after reviewing the proposed site’s water quality, water quantity and recharge, the DEP found the system designed for this project met its standards.
For more information, visit www.eastbrunswick.org/content/885/101/default.aspx.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].