Be proud! Democracy was alive and well Wed. when over 100 local citizens, town officials, and professionals gathered in orderly meeting to express a wide variety of views on allowing increased sewage flow from Chatham Township's treatment plant into the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.
NOTE: Time period for public input has been extended to May 1
so write your letter to:Mr. Jeff Reading
NJDEP
Bureau of Watershed Permitting
CN 026
Trenton, NJ 08625
For detail on the issues read the letter mailed to all Chatham Twp. residents last week.
Here's a list of those who spoke (if we misspelled your name or misrepresented your statement or views send email to gswa@mars.superlink.net -- we'll fix immediately):
Peter Hofmann, Chatham Township Committee member
---- yes, with thoughtful views, as always;
Frank Verducci, Chatham Township official
---- yes, water in swamp has gotten cleaner so we can safely discharge more pollutants into it;
Frank Stillinger, Chatham Township resident
---- no, treatment plant is currently exceeding its proposed increased flow without penalties;
Candace Ashmun, Chair, Great Swamp Advisory Committee
---- no, carefully & professionally reasoned arguments that the Swamp is being squeezed to the limit;
representative for Sterling Properties Development Group
---- yes, developers (& property owners) currently have no orderly way of obtaining access to sewers;
Helen (she does have a last name; it's Fenske)
---- no, because she owns the Swamp;
William Koch, Refuge Manager for the Great Swamp N.W.R.
---- no, because he sees on a day-to-day basis what the current increase in stormwater runoff is doing to the Swamp;
gentleman who has been a Candace Lane resident for 3 years
---- no, excessive development is threatening the quality of life he moved to Chatham Twp. for;
Dot Stillinger, Chatham Twp. resident & GSWA volunteer
---- no, because "water's gotten cleaner so go ahead & discharge more pollution into it" doesn't make sense;
Penny Hinkle, Chair, Harding Twp. Environmental Commission
---- no, because no-net-runoff is do-able & affordable (she knows -- Harding Twp. has pretty much achieved it);
long time Morristown resident
---- no, it's irresponsible stewardship;
Arthur Heyl, resident since 1941, family has been resident since 1927
---- yes, lack of sewers for local residents prevents them from using their property as they wish and lowers property values;
Len Hamilton, Long Hill resident and Prof. at Rutgers
---- no, his hound hates drinking from polluted streams;
Sally Dudley, Chair of ANJEC (Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions) and Deputy mayor of Harding Twp.
---- no, it's not in the best interests of the citizens of NJ to keep polluting the Swamp (with professional arguments to back up this opinion);
Robert Fox, Harding Twp. municipal engineer
---- no, if Harding can do it (achieve no net increase in stormwater runoff) so can Chatham Twp.;
Dave Budd, Harding Twp. Planning Board, H.T. Environmental Commission, and treasurer of GSWA
---- no, current situation is not being handled responsibly so no reason to think increased latitude will improve things;
John Thonet, professional planner
---- no, current limit is 750,000 gal/day but Chatham Twp. is now routinely exceeding, with no penalties, 1,000,000 gal/day which is the proposed upper limit on flow;
Julia Somers, Chair, GSWA
---- no, inner personal conviction buttressed by encyclopedic detail and awesome reasoning;
Kenneth Sigh, professional representing GSWA
---- no, for all the right reasons;
Bailey Brower, long time Chatham Twp. resident & swim club owner
---- yes & no, it's a thorny issue which might be resolved with more innovative thinking;
Edward Adler, Bernards Twp. resident
---- no, another carefully reasoned argument against over-development;
Carol Gray, Chatham Twp. resident on River Rd.
---- no, her property is under water half the time already so any increased flow will make her property virtually unuseable;
Fred Pocci, Chatham Twp. resident
---- no, he's sympathetic to property owners who can't develop their land but wants to see a good stormwater management ordinance in place before DAC is approved;
Don Lancaster, Fairmount Ave. resident
---- no, quality-of-life issue for current residents;
Abbie Fair, Chatham Twp. Committee member
---- no, DEP conditions for issuing a conditional DAC have not been met and secondary ramifications have not been thought through.
Jeff Reading, NJ DEP representative, fairly & courteously conducted the hearing, answered the "what happens now" questions (DEP considers citizen input from the hearing in making its final decision), and stated that in any event no conditional DAC will be issued until Chatham Twp. meets two conditions (previously communicated to the town in letters): baseline environmental survey must be conducted and an effective stormwater management ordinance must be put in place.
GREAT SWAMP
WATERSHED ASSOCIATION
P. O. Box 300, New Vernon, N.J. 07976
201-966-1900
April 3, 1996
Dear Resident of Chatham Township:
On Wednesday, April 17 a public hearing will be held on Chatham Township officials' application to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to expand the Tanglewood Lane sewage treatment plant. This plant, located immediately next to Great Swamp's Wilderness Area, expels its treated effluent into the Refuge.
Because of grave concerns raised by this expansion, for the first time NJDEP has placed conditions on its approval of a sewage treatment plant expansion. It is critical that those conditions be fully met.
The plant's expansion means the building of 750,000 square feet of office space at Giralda Farms will become a reality and an explosion of development proposals in the Township will follow (it has already begun.)
NJDEP is giving the public one final opportunity to comment on the Tanglewood Lane sewage treatment plant expansion and on the draft "Discharge Allocation Certificate" they have prepared authorizing that expansion. The hearing begins at 4:00 p.m. in the Chatham Township Municipal Building, 58 Meyersville Road. The meeting will continue for some time; come after work if you prefer, but do come! If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call the Watershed Association.
Chatham Township officials are seeking NJDEP permission to increase the Tanglewood Lane sewage treatment plant's capacity to 1 million gallons per day. Physical expansion of the plant has already occurred, despite NJDEP's express warnings to Township officials that the permits needed to utilize the expansion might not be approved. Partially due to a poorly maintained system of sewer pipe extensions, and also due to the fact that stormwater and groundwater are entering the sewer system, the expanded plant averaged 0.936 million gallons per day of flow in January 1996. This means that the Township is using most of the plant's yet-to-be approved expansion. Meantime, last year Chatham Township officials signed an agreement with Prudential Realty guaranteeing 94,000 gallons per day of sewage to Giralda Farms for the next 15 years. As a result, without major investment on Chatham Township's part to upgrade the system of sewer pipes, there already is little or no capacity in the plant left available to other new development.
There is now a rush of development proposals seeking additional sewer capacity. Two major proposals are in the area of Hickory Tree. Development will take place on a first-come, first-served, piecemeal basis. These proposals include:
A development group -- Sterling Properties -- is attempting to gain access to massive sewer capacity in Chatham Township to develop 30 acres located beside and behind CostCutters at Hickory Tree and build 145 large townhouses. These acres are mostly steeply-sloped mature beech forest laced with wetlands and a stream that flows into Loantaka Brook. (As documented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's five-year Great Swamp watershed study, Loantaka Brook is one of the most severely degraded streams in the region.) Sterling Properties has indicated it will request variances from Chatham Township that will increase the development's density and impervious land cover by more than 50%. They have also applied to have the Township waive the requirement that they perform any environmental assessment for preliminary subdivision approval. This project will mean more traffic on Shunpike and polluted stormwater flowing into the Loantaka Brook and Great Swamp.
This site, also next to Hickory Tree, is zoned for 4 houses and an office building. Township zoning and planning currently allows for an approximate sewer use of 2,200 gallons per day. While not opposing the need for housing of this type, GSWA is, however, concerned by Kessler's request for 20,000 gallons of daily sewer flow for this project. This is 10 times more than planned in the Township's Wastewater Management Plan just approved by NJDEP. In addition, the project will need wetlands permits, and is of such a greater density than anticipated in the Township Master Plan that there will be no room to address stormwater on-site. It also will mean greater traffic around Hickory Tree and polluted stormwater flowing into Loantaka Brook and Great Swamp.
Here, just 26 miles west of Times Square, in the most densely populated state in the nation, we have a National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness Area on Chatham Township's doorstep. This area enhances our lives, enriches the character of our community, and helps support property values.
We can no longer take this irreplaceable gift for granted. Great Swamp is still listed by The Wilderness Society as one of the ten most threatened National Wildlife Refuges in the United States. Currently, development decisions can be made without taking into consideration the environmental consequences for downstream communities, the watershed's natural resources or public lands. However, regional planning initiatives are under way.
With the sponsorship of Morris 2000, the Ten Towns Great Swamp Committee has been formed to try to create a voluntary stormwater and wastewater management plan for the Great Swamp watershed. Chatham Township is a participant. GSWA is tracking the Committee's work, attending meetings, participating in a sub-committee, and offering support wherever appropriate.
GSWA has also prepared (with some of the best technical assistance available in the U.S.) a model "no net increase" stormwater ordinance for communities in the Great Swamp watershed and offered it without condition or cost to Chatham Township. Unlike the Township's recently-adopted stormwater ordinance, this model ordinance will assure that the Township meets one of NJDEP's conditions for approval of the Discharge Allocation Certificate needed for expansion of the sewage treatment plant. It is fair, do-able and affordable. To date, Chatham Township officials have not acted upon our offer. (Based on this model, Harding Township recently introduced a "no net increase" stormwater ordinance.)
We have also undertaken projects essential for the future protection of Great Swamp, including preparation of a comprehensive Greenway and Open Space Plan for the watershed. GSWA is pleased that several towns in the watershed have already indicated an interest in incorporating some recommendations from the Greenway and Open Space Plan into their community's Master Plan. Unfortunately, Chatham Township is the only one of ten watershed communities that has declined to participate.
With your support, we can work to further regional planning initiatives and work to protect Great Swamp. Great Swamp is our Refuge and our responsibility. Please help us!
Sincerely,
-- Julia M. Somers
-- Executive Director, Great Swamp Watershed Association
P.S. We appreciate your donations, and once again, we urge you to come to the public hearing on Wednesday, April 17 in Chatham Township's Municipal Building. It begins at 4:00 p.m. and will continue until early evening.