09/29/05 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom DEP delays Christ Church's Highlands exemption Move means additional scrutiny for Montclair church's plans to build mega-church in Rockaway Township
BY ROB JENNINGS DAILY RECORD
The state Department of Environmental Protection has placed on hold the Highlands law exemption it granted last year to Christ Church of Montclair's building plan in Rockaway Township and ordered a new inquiry.
In a letter sent Tuesday to church pastor David Ireland, DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell wrote that additional fact-finding was required -- including a 30-day period for public comment that was not offered last time.
"The church shall submit a new application to the department," Campbell wrote, in a decision that had the practical effect of invalidating the exemption granted to 5,000-member Christ Church last September.
DEP's reconsideration of the exemption was ordered last month by the state appellate division.
Judge Ariel A. Rodríguez wrote that a new inquiry was merited because even DEP conceded it "failed to articulate a proper basis" for exempting Christ Church's proposed mega-church from tough new restrictions under the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act.
"In order to preserve the status quo pending the remand, it is necessary to stay the department's Sept. 30, 2004, determination," Campbell wrote to Ireland.
Winning the Highland exemption was considered a big boost for Christ Church.
Without it, Christ Church's plans -- highlighted by a 2,512-seat sanctuary, private K-5 school, fellowship hall and recreational facilities on Green Pond Road -- would face additional scrutiny and a review by the Highlands Council.
The DEP, in granting the Highlands exemption a year ago, ruled that the church's building plan fell within 125 percent of the lawfully existing impervious surfaces on the 107-acre, former Agilent Technologies site -- one of more than dozen conditions for an exemption under the statute.
The Highlands law, which took effect in August 2004, placed additional limits on development in a 395,000-acre preservation zone that includes the 107-acre, proposed church site on Green Pond Road.
Building plan opponents were dismayed at how quickly Christ Church's exemption was granted, in comparison to other requests involving much smaller projects that were either rejected or delayed.
They also noted that the church later introduced changes, including a parking deck -- since withdrawn -- that were not included in its application for an exemption.