Council Will Designate Farmland As An Area In Need Of Redevelopment
Scheme Recommended By The Council Because Developer’s Plan Was Not Approvable
Sorry for the late notice, but the Highlands Council’s meeting agenda for Thursday October 17 at 4 pm includes public comment and a council vote on massive new warehouse development on rural farmland (see item #10)
10. PLAN CONFORMANCE COMMITTEE
• CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION – Determination on Application for Highlands Redevelopment Area Designation for Township of Lopatcong, Warren County, Block 102 Lots 9, 9.01 and 9.03 and Township of Pohatcong, Warren County, Block 1 Lot 1.01 (voting matter with public comment) – *Read the Resolution
This is an outrageously bad project on its merits, but it is made far worse by the fact that the scheme, i.e. an Application for Highlands Redevelopment Area Designation, was cooked up and recommended by the Council itself because the developer’s original plan conflicted with and was not approvable under Highlands Regional Master Plan (RMP) as a “Highlands Center”.
Here is text from the Highlands Council’s staff Report that openly admits that corruption:
The Township originally submitted a Highlands Center designation proposal including these properties. After a review of the proposal by the Plan Conformance Committee on October 5, 2023, it was recommended that the Townships amend the center petition to remove these properties and instead submit a Highlands Redevelopment Area application. This recommendation was based on the proposed redevelopment of the Phillipsburg Mall property and the lack of comprehensive center-based planning that the finding for a consistent Highlands Center would require.
In another outrageous move, the Council is using paved parking lots (impervious cover) from a nearby Mall in order to calculate and make the farmland comply with and meet the RMP impervious cover requirements for a “redevelopment area”. Again, the Staff Report admits that:
The Phillipsburg Mall redevelopment project is exempt from the Highlands Act and has received all local approvals. It is included in the application to reach the necessary impervious surface calculations to qualify the rear area as a Highlands Redevelopment Area.
Finally, the farmland being destroyed for the proposed warehouse would not be eligible for sewer service without this corrupt “redevelopment area” designation that was cooked up by the Council. Again, the staff Report openly admits that:
The RMP does not support extension of water/sewer service in the Conservation Zone or any of the environmentally constrained sub-zones (rear property). The service extension would only be permissible for the proposed warehouse with the approval of the Highlands Redevelopment Area.
This is corruption at its worst and would establish a horrible precedent, including on other critical issues, like mitigation and other issues.
I wrote about that in this post, so you can hit the links and get the relevant text from the Staff Report:
Please attend the hearing at 4 pm and oppose this project!
[End Note: for those that do not know me, I was an architect of and represented the DEP Commissioner as a member of a very small team from Office of Legislative Services that drafted the introduced version of the Highlands Act (Senate No.1 – the version without all the exemptions and other political compromises).