GREAT SWAMP WATERSHED ASSOCIATION Spring 2001 |
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From the Desk of Julia Somers, Executive Director Morris Area Towns Working Together SEAMLESS is an acronym that stands for the "Southeast Morris League for Strategic Solutions." Quite a mouthful! SEAMLESS was created after the recent announcement that a contract to purchase the 435-acre Exxon/Mobil site in Florham Park had been signed by the partnership of Gale & Wentworth and Rockefeller Group. Located between Park Avenue to the south and Columbia Turnpike to the west, the site is split by I-24. All but 8.8 acres are situated in Florham Park; those 8.8 acres lie in Madison. Florham Park’s new master plan anticipates up to 2.2 million square feet of commercial office space and a major hotel being constructed entirely on the southern portion of the site. This portion is next to Madison and near the Great Swamp watershed, while being farthest from Florham Park’s town center. The master plan seeks to keep the northern portion of the site in open space and transfer its development potential to the southern part, and anticipates the buildings there will be five stories or more high. Finally, the master plan states that this new development will only take place if a new ramp off I-24 is built to serve the southern potion only. Needless to say, this combination of factors has raised tremendous concern about the impact of such development on the region. As a result, individuals from Madison, Chatham Borough, Chatham Township, East Hanover, Florham Park, Harding Township, Long Hill Township and Morris Township have joined SEAMLESS, including a number of elected officials. In addition, representatives from GSWA, Morris Land Conservancy, Passaic River Coalition, Sierra Club, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, and Trans-Options (formerly known as McRides) have attended its meetings. Once SEAMLESS began to meet, however, we started to look beyond just the Exxon/Mobil site and were astonished to realize that nearly 8.1 million square feet of commercial space in or near the southeast Morris region is now either under construction or approved for construction. The implication of this fact truly resonated with SEAMLESS’ members. The secondary impacts of such construction includes traffic increases and new road construction (employees presently working here already commute from Pennsylvania), housing pressures, school construction, environmental degradation, reduced open space protection, increased burden on municipal services and higher property taxes. To date, SEAMLESS has served as a forum for sharing of information. Its goal is to evaluate and help shape solutions to the secondary impacts of commercial development in the region. It meets at GSWA’s office from 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. All are welcome. If you wish to attend, please call me at 973-966-1900. Our elected officials need to be fully informed about what is happening here in Morris County. To date, few seem to know what’s coming down the pike!
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