On June 7, the Bernards Township Zoning Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to appeal a ruling by the state Superior Court, which had overturned the Board's denial of Ridge Oak's proposed assisted living facility project.

The next day, June 8, members of the Township Committee met with Ridge Oak, Inc., representatives, apparently in an effort to reach a settlement of the separate, federal suit against the township. This suit, which is also against the Board of Adjustment, alleges discrimination against the handicapped, and claimed the township's zoning did not allow assisted living facilities.

However, in July 1999, the Township Committee adopted an ordinance to allow assisted living facilities in an R-6 3-acre zone. The Planning Board then approved plans for Sunrise Development to build an assisted living facility on King George Road (outside of the Great Swamp Watershed).

Residents of the neighborhood in which Ridge Oak proposes to construct their assisted living facility object to the size of the project. They said the facility would be wider than a football field and 27 times as large as the average house in the neighborhood. – Ann Parsekian

On Thursday, June 8, the Somerset County Park Commission introduced an updated master plan, which includes more than 1,500 acres of land in the Somerset Hills proposed for open space and recreation. Included in the 1,500 acres are 279 acres adjacent to the Lord Stirling Park in Bernards Township. The master plan suggests that Lord Stirling Park be expanded "to ensure the integrity of the Passaic River watershed of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and to increase the opportunities for public recreation experiences in this area of Somerset County." – Ann Parsekian

A new floor-area ratio (FAR) ordinance was introduced by the Bernardsville Borough Council. The new ordinance uses a sliding scale within six lot-size ranges to determine the allowable floor area ratio for residential properties. Mayor Hugh Fenwick said the new ordinance is "slightly more generous" than the current "monster house" ordinance, which allows a maximum FAR of 5 percent (6,534 sq. ft.) in the 3-acre zone (130, 680 sq. ft.).

In December 1999, the Community Builders Association filed a lawsuit in connection with the existing law, contending it is too restrictive.

Under the new ordinance, lots of 50,000 to 150,000 sq. ft. have a base FAR of 6,000 sq. ft. plus 4 percent of lot area above 50,000 sq. ft., which would permit a FAR of about 9,227 sq. ft. for a 3-acre lot. The top lot size range of 150,000 sq. ft. and larger would allow for a 10,000 sq. ft. base FAR, plus 3 percent for the portion of the lot in excess of 150,000 sq. ft.

The new law also limits impervious surface to 1.5 times the permitted FAR, plus a driveway allowance of 14 times the existing or proposed front setback.

Board of Adjustment Denies Deer Park Expansion Request

On June 15th, the Board of Adjustment of Chatham Township denied the use variances requested by Deer Park, L.L.C., to expand its offices and parking lot at 700 Shunpike Road. The Board found that the intensification of use in a residential zone was not warranted, despite Deer Park's promise to grant a conservation easement and adhere to the township's strict environmental codes when expanding the parking lot.

The medical technology business is located in a residential zone and has been permitted to operate there thanks to a conditional use variance given to former tenant Transworld Radio, a non-profit institution. The Board of Adjustment had ruled in 1990 that the office space on the property should consist of only the current office building, and not the two former residences on the property.

In addition, the Board had limited the number of employees that use the parking lot to 65. In its most recent application, Deer Park asked to renovate the residences as office space, and to double the number of employees and parking spaces. -- Kathy Abbott

In July, Sterling Properties submitted a new application before the Chatham Township Planning Board to develop the thirty-acre property at the intersection of Shunpike and Green Village roads. This time, Sterling proposes building 56 luxury townhouses on this land formerly known as the Tublitz estate, a vast reduction from the townhouse 122 units it first proposed over three years ago.

The new proposed townhouse complex, to be called Rose Valle, also adheres more closely to the Township's building codes and environmental ordinances than Sterling's previous plans. Rose Valle would require no height variances, would impact fewer steep slopes, and would destroy fewer trees.

Over the past few years, neighbors, GSWA and the vigilant Township Committee played a major role in scaling down the urbanization of this 30-acre wooded tract.

In 1997, Sterling received approval from the Board of Adjustment for the 122-unit complex, but the project was stopped after township residents appealed the Board's decision to the Township Committee. The citizens asserted that Sterling hadn't justified the inordinate number of D-class variances needed. D-class variances concern a building's "bulk" measurements, such as height and setbacks. The Township Committee upheld the appeal and thereby denied Sterling's application for D-variances. Sterling then appealed the denial in Superior Court in Morristown. The judge remanded the application back to the Board of Adjustment.

In October 1998, Sterling presented to the Planning Board a 96-unit design, with fewer, but larger units than the original 122-unit proposal. The Board of Adjustment and Sterling proceeded to discuss problems with the number of height variances required, construction on steep slopes, storm-water runoff, road widths, and traffic congestion. Then unexpectedly, on May 29, 1999, Sterling attorney Barry Osmun asked the Board of Adjustment for preliminary and final site approval before the controversies had been resolved. The Board of Adjustment was forced to vote to deny Sterling's application for the 96-unit complex. – Kathy Abbott

In June, the Township Committee held a public hearing at which it reviewed the Planning Board's recommendation to amend the Township's Conditional Use Ordinance. This recommendation addressed which Township roads were appropriate for conditional uses such as schools, nursing homes or churches; it was made as the first part of a complete review of the Ordinance undertaken by the Board.

The Township Committee approved the Planning Board's recommendation that conditional uses were appropriate only on collector county roads and state highways.

The Harding Township Environmental Commission (HTEC) is closely monitoring an Interstate 287 truck stop these days, studying an innovative underground system to remove oil and grit from stormwater runoff.

The system, called an oil/grit separator, was acquired with a $20,000 grant to the HTEC from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and installed by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation.

In use since September 1998, the system receives stormwater from the paved area of the truck stop, swirls it in a chamber to separate out the grit, then passes the water through a separator that allows the oil to float to the top while clearer water is discharged below. The clearer water is then purified by a sand filter.

The HTEC grant also provided for the acquisition of automated sampling equipment and for laboratory analysis of samples taken during heavy rains.

The HTEC has monitored three significant storms since May 1999, with dramatic results. Samples of stormwater taken as it flows off the parking lot contain many suspended and settleable solids. After treatment in the oil/grit separator, levels of both sediment and petroleum hydrocarbons were reduced significantly – although visually, the water still appeared grayish rather than clear. After discharge from the sand filter, the water appeared to be virtually clear.

The larger significance of this project is that the two NJ agencies involved are eyeing the system for potential use at rest stops throughout the NJ interstate highway system.

To that end, the DEP invited the HTEC to present the results of this project at a statewide meeting in June. The project won acclaim as an excellent example of how cooperative grants with environmental commissions can produce important results. In this case, a number of attendees expressed appreciation that they now had concrete data to help convince municipalities to require the use of sand filters for developments that include paved areas. – Roger Greenway

GSWA Works with Builder To Ensure ‘Smart Development’

The Long Hill Township Planning Board approved a plan to develop eight houses on what is perhaps the finest remaining parcel in Long Hill. The new homes, to be known as High Point Estates, will be built on heavily wooded three-acre lots along the mountain ridge of Long Hill Road, affording spectacular views that stretch some 20 to 30 miles to the north and south.

That's the bad news. The good news is that the project is a model of developing with a lighter touch. The applicant, Michael Menza, worked closely with GSWA, re-drawing the plans to meet virtually all of the goals of the Ten Towns model ordinance for stormwater. Steep slopes are being protected under Long Hill's strict ordinance; utilities will be placed under narrow, shared driveways; and with the exception of a 75-foot perimeter around each of the proposed houses, most of the remaining parcel will be protected by a conservation easement. A good community effort!

Another applicant proposed a single-home subdivision on Meyersville Road and was turned down by the Planning Board. The public raised issues of inadequate stormwater management, an oversized house for the neighborhood, and the fact that this would be a flag lot. – Len Hamilton

The Madison Zoning Board of Adjustment voted in May to allow a five-house subdivision with 15 related variances on the three undeveloped acres at 300 Madison Avenue. Despite compelling testimony related to both planning and environmental issues and unanimous opposition by neighbors in attendance, the Madison Environmental Commission, and the Harding Township Engineer, the Board voted to approve the application.

Members of the Board apparently agreed with the applicant's view that development on the land, which a 1984 Zoning Board of Adjustment ruled should be kept as open space, is inevitable.

Neighbors concerned about the loss of the three-acre woodlands were not without some victory. They mitigated stormwater runoff problems by hiring engineer and planner John Thonet to present testimony at prior meetings. As a result of his environmental expertise, the Board imposed several conditions related to improving groundwater re-charge systems and increasing a conservation easement to include an existing natural depression which currently acts as an aquifer re-charge zone. – Judy Kroll

On Monday, May 15, just three weeks after the Planning Board denied an application for a non-conforming sub-division at 144 Loantaka Way, developer Joseph DeMarzo demolished the century-old manor house on the property to prepare to construct one new home. Adding insult to injury to the hundreds of Madison residents who opposed the sub-division for both historical and environmental reasons, DeMarzo then removed numerous large trees from the property. Witnesses were dismayed that several trees were removed for no apparent reason, forever transforming the lot from wooded to nearly clear-cut.

On a positive note, the builder's seemingly vengeful destruction has galvanized citizens to form a committee called "Madison Matters." They seek to preserve the historical homes, mature trees and original lot sizes that make Madison residences so desirable, and, incidentally, more beneficial to the Great Swamp. -- Judy Kroll

Kimmerle Associates Seeks Variance to Build Duplexes

Kimmerle Associates has presented a plan to the Morris Township Board of Adjustment to build four duplexes (eight homes) on a one-acre site adjacent to the Spring Brook Condominiums on Mount Kemble Road. The site, which falls within the Great Swamp watershed, is occupied by a single-family home that Kimmerle claims is deteriorating. In seeking a variance to the zoning, Kimmerle has asked for the Board's approval by reasoning that dense housing on small acreage is happening all over.

Residents of the condominium association and certain Board members are concerned about setting a precedent, whereby landowners on Mt. Kemble might seek variances in the future to develop dense, condominium-like complexes on land zoned for one/two family homes. Space for parking and stormwater runoff are also concerns at the site. -- Terry Hudzina

Harvey Caplan's Jockey Hollow Top Six development bid before the Morris Township Planning Board is about to come to a close. Soil destabilization pictures taken by Harding Township engineer Robert Fox unearthed evidence that soil erosion continues on the already developed Top Five section. Concerns of soil erosion on the yet undeveloped Top Six portion of the project are rooted in the fact that the slopes there are steeper than those of Top Five, and therefore less likely to be controllable.

Mr. Fox's review of the engineering study presented by Mr. Caplan's engineer, Robert Kirkpatrick, portrayed the plan as full of holes. Perhaps never before has there been such conflicting testimony between opposing engineers. Areas of conflict included the impact of development on stormwater and soil erosion; downstream effects; the efficacy of current engineering technologies for building on steep slopes; and the volume of stormwater that would leave the site after development and its potential for causing problems.

An earth-shattering historical review of the Ramapo Fault by geologist Ralph Costa of CH2M Hill, a Philadelphia firm with offices in Parsippany, also helped to shake up the possible approval of Caplan's present proposal.

According to Mr. Costa, the land that Top Six would be developed on falls near the Ramapo Fault line. As a result of previous tremors along the fault, the bedrock is fragmented. If disturbed, for example by blasting, the bedrock may exhibit stress failure, leading to seeps, landslides and subsequent soil erosion that are not presently evident. -- Terry Hudzina

An example of how one person can make a difference occurred at a meeting in which representatives of the AT&T building off of James Street came before the Planning Board seeking variances for work to be performed on their parking lot, entrance and delivery area.

A citizen at the meeting raised concern about approximately 600 parked cars and the petrochemical pollution that might occur from run-off into a storm drain system that emptied into Great Brook - a feeder stream of Great Swamp. The Planning Board seeing some merit in the questioning, asked the Township engineer to work with the representatives to find a financially feasible solution to retrofitting the storm drains.