Subject: Watershed Watch -- NJDEP Rejects Plan For Sewers at Abbey
In a critical decision, this week NJDEP rejected the plan to put a sewer line onto a section of the Delbarton property in Morris Township. The sewer would have been used to develop a 41 acre section into a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) called by the developers "Abbey Woods at Delbarton". The Watershed Association has been actively opposing this project for 5 years and has spent considerable time and resources defending this pristine area of the Washington Valley.
Without the sewer line the development cannot be built in anything resembling its current plan.
The Great Swamp Watershed Association and numerous other environmental, conservation and land use groups strongly opposed this proposal to build a 250 unit high-end commercial facility because the project:
-- is located next to the Jockey Hollow Section of the Morristown National Historical Park, the nation’s first national historical park; -- is located in Planning Area 5 of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan (Environmentally Sensitive); -- is located in the Highlands Planning Area; -- is located in a National Historic District; -- includes property with Category One waters and exceptional value wetlands; -- includes Landscape Project Areas 4 and 5 for threatened and endangered species (barred owl, coopers hawk, red shouldered hawk, wood turtle and possibly Indiana Bat) -- will require the loss of 3,153 large, mature trees and removal of 344,000 cubic yards of fill; -- is located on very steep slopes and is mostly forested;
GSWA also did not believe the project met the state’s stormwater regulations.
The project features units that will have purchasing prices ranging from $1,475,000 to $435,000 each, will cost from $8,300 to $3,300 per month in maintenance fees to live in, and will include no affordable income units. Despite rumors to the contrary, no retired monks would live there.
The Watershed Association felt it was highly inappropriate for the State to sacrifice so many important environmental and historical policies for such a project and therefore felt the DEP should NOT grant the Water Quality Plan amendment permitting the sewer line.
In the end the DEP agreed with our assessment of the project.
The Watershed Association saw this as a crucial test of all New Jersey’s land use planning strategies: State Plan, Highlands Council, etc. If this land — with its documented and significant historical and environmental sensitivity — could not be saved, no land in New Jersey could be saved.
The developer has the option to appeal the decision. The alternative would be to propose a different, less intensive use, such as single family homes, that could be served by individual septic systems.
