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Here's an update on the AAESUF/Stein appeal from Mayor Thomas C. Fritts. See the template letter for the NJDEP.
Message from Mayor Fritts:
Dear residents,
I want to provide an explanation of what our current status is and next steps are concerning the AAESUF Property, LLC application. In addition, I have provided a templated letter for public use when submitting a written response after we update you with NJDEP Public Notice Date of Proposed Amendment. Since the last hearing when the U.F. The Planning Board approved the application, we have been extraordinarily busy. I worked very closely with Senator Vin Gopal, Senator Troy Singleton and their staff on new legislation that will be introduced in a Senate Hearing in the near future. This legislation would assist us in potentially halting certain warehousing as well as other development across the State of NJ prior to receiving construction permits. Once posted on the State website I will push right to all residents. I expect this to happen within the next couple of weeks. I can assure you that the Governing Body, Staff, residents and neighboring residents continue to work vigorously to protect our Village.
Appeal: We plan to file an appeal of the Planning Board’s decision in court. This type of lawsuit is called an action in lieu of prerogative writs, and it challenges a Board decision that is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable. This type of lawsuit can only be filed for up to 45 days after the resolution of approval is adopted by the Board. The resolution has not been approved yet. The Board attorney has to prepare the written resolution, and then the Board will vote on it at a future meeting. This does not mean that there is anything left for the Board to actually decide on; this is a formality to enter their decision into writing.
Once the resolution is adopted in writing, we will file our appeal in the Law Division. In this type of court proceeding, the lawsuit is filed as the plaintiff vs. defendants. The defendants have to be both the Board itself and the applicant, so the lawsuit will look like Borough of Allentown v. AAESUF Property, LLC and Upper Freehold Township Planning Board.
This type of court proceeding is decided by a judge, after there are briefs filed by all parties, and oral arguments. There are no witnesses and no jury. The decision is made based on the record of what happened in the hearings.
NJDEP: The applicant’s wetlands permit applications at NJDEP were previously denied based on the fact that the applicant did not have approval from NJDEP for their water quality management plan (WQMP) amendment.
The Monmouth County Water Quality Management Plan outlines how sewer service is provided in Monmouth County. Since this property does not have sewer service currently, and the applicant wants to bring sewer service to the property via its own new system on-site, the applicant must go through a process known as a site-specific amendment application. This process first goes to Monmouth County and then goes to NJDEP. Monmouth County already approved this WQMP site-specific amendment. Now the NJDEP is considering it. The NJDEP considers the amendment in terms of compliance with a specific set of regulations, N.J.A.C. 7:15. We have sent correspondence to NJDEP explaining our concerns with the WQMP application.
Once the NJDEP has considered the application and is ready to notice the public of the proposed amendment, the proposed amendment will be listed on the NJDEP’s website as a proposed amendment to the Monmouth County Water Quality Management Plan: https://www.nj.gov/dep/wqmp/wmpnotices.html. The notice has not yet been published. There is a possibility that the NJDEP could hold a non-adversarial public hearing to discuss the proposed amendment, if there is sufficient public interest demonstrated for a public hearing. People can submit requests in writing for a non-adversarial public hearing once the notice is published, within 30 days of the date that the notice is published.
SHPO: The applicant is continuing to do archaeological investigation of the property per SHPO’s instruction. The archaeological investigation is for the wetlands permit. We do not have any updated information on the archaeological investigation or its results at this time. We have advised NJDEP that there may have been metal detecting work going on when the ground was potentially frozen.
We will continue to keep the community updated as various legal avenues progress.
I have also provided a templated letter for all residents to use when sending their concerns to the NJDEP. Please feel free to modify and make your own. You can use some of the additional bullet points below to reference when editing the templated letter. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions you may have. We need your support by sending a letter. We will update the community as soon as we can confirm the public notice date that the NJDEP will provide.
Issues to potentially focus on when submitting your written response:
- How will NJDEP ensure that this property is not habitat for threatened/endangered species that have not been sufficiently surveyed for?
- Why is this property allowed to become a warehouse with sewer service when it is designated as a Rural Planning Area 4 under the State Plan?
- This application will cause harm to a state designated historic district.
- How does NJDEP know that this site is appropriate for development in this manner when the site has archaeological value that has not been fully determined?
- The stormwater discharge will dump huge amounts of water into the Indian Run and neighboring properties.
- Stormwater will cause permanent nuisance to neighbors and damage to natural features.
- We do not know how the stormwater/wastewater systems interact and how they cause groundwater to rise.
Templated Letter for Public Use:
Template for Public Comment to NJDEP re: Water Quality Management Plan Site Specific Amendment
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Division of Watershed Protection and Restoration
Bureau of NJPDES Stormwater Permitting & Water Quality Management
Water Quality Management Planning Program
PO Box 420, Mail Code 501-02A
Trenton, NJ 08625-0420
Wqmp.publiccomments@dep.nj.gov
Re: Monmouth County Water Quality Management Plan Site Specific Amendment Application
1662 Old York Road, Upper Freehold, Monmouth County – Stein Property
AAESUF Property, LLC
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of Upper Freehold Township / Allentown Borough to urge you to deny the proposed site specific amendment for the Monmouth County Water Quality Management Plan for the Stein Property at Old York Road.
It is the duty of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to consider pertinent planning documents while reviewing proposed amendments to areawide Water Quality Management Plans. Under the New Jersey State Plan, this property is in a Rural Planning Area, PA-4. Large warehouses are specifically discouraged in Rural Planning Areas under the State Plan. It is utterly inappropriate under the State Plan to modify the area Water Quality Management plan, where there is currently a rural area, to place two large warehouses. It will destroy the quality of life in our town.
This amendment is inappropriate for both Upper Freehold and Allentown. Allentown is a historic Center under the State Plan and is supposed to be protected as a Designated Village. The environs around Centers are intended to be preserved by greenbelts whenever possible, under the State Plan. Approving this amendment will be in direct conflict with the State Plan, which NJDEP is required to consider under the applicable water quality planning regulations. N.J.A.C. 7:15-2.4 states that the Department shall consider pertinent planning documents while reviewing proposed amendments to areawide water quality management plans, including municipal, county, regional, State and interstate land use plans. This requires the State to consider that this is a rural area, next to residences in a historic village.
The policy goals of the Water Quality Management planning program include protecting public health and promoting environmental protection. Adding warehouses to a rural area, right next to a designated historic village, is not protecting the public health or promoting environmental protection. It will have a negative impact on our environment, including water and air quality. The DEP must consider the combined impacts of both stormwater management and wastewater disposal, taken together, on the community that surrounds the property. This is a rural area next door to family homes, and bordering a stream, the Indian Run.
Environmentally sensitive areas are not eligible for delineation as a sewer service area, if they are an area 25 acres or larger that include endangered or threatened wildlife species habitat. There are documented sightings of eagles in and around this property. In addition, the applicant has only done a minimal study of potentially threatened or endangered species on the site. There was no study done to determine if any endangered or threatened bats are in the area. An American Kestrel has been observed on the site which is a known state threatened species. The DEP must require thorough surveys to determine whether this is an environmentally sensitive area. If this is an environmentally sensitive area it is ineligible for sewer service area. Damage to these resources cannot be undone. Once these habitats are lost, they are gone forever.
This application must be denied.
Respectfully,