Letter below was submitted to the Bernards Township Committee on January 22, 2018.
To: Mayor and Members of Bernards Township Committee
Subject: Quarry Redevelopment: A Bad Beginning Can Lead to a Good Ending
Resolution 2018-0109 is on your agenda for the January 24 meeting. If adopted, it will reject the plan for the quarry presented on October 24 and pull the plug on the quarry redevelopment planning process you authorized earlier last year. I support the first action and oppose the second. My reasons are in the letters to you on November 29 and January 15 and I won’t repeat them here. I will tell of some events in which I participated, and from which I learned.
In March 1975 the NJ Supreme Court handed down its first Mount Laurel decision. It dealt with exclusionary residential zoning Lower courts had been wrestling with this issue for several years, and a decision from the high court was expected. The principle holding was that a “developing municipality” had to provide for its “fair share” of affordable housing (what was then called “low and moderate income housing”).
Bernards at that time had only single family detached homes. Zoning regulations had recently been changed for the land now occupied by Society Hill, The Cedars, and Spring Ridge to provide for a mix of dwelling types, similar to those there now. But no homes had been built and the land owner was suing the town for higher density. This was the Lorenc case. Very shortly after the Mount Laura decision, plaintiff’s attorney amended the complaint to stipulate that Bernards Township was a developing municipality, as defined by the Supreme Court, and that it must provide for its fair share of affordable housing.
I was on the Township Committee in 1975. After a heated discussion on a hot night in the old Town Hall in June, among Township Committee and Planning Board members and their attorneys, we agreed that Bernards was in fact a developing municipality, and that we had to provide for our fair share of affordable housing.
But there was a problem: no one knew how to do this. We advised the judge in the Lorenc case that we would comply, but we needed time. He gave us a December deadline.
We worked hard through the summer and in the fall decided to introduce an ordinance. We wanted to let the residents know our decision. The township administrator prepared a newsletter and mailed it to every home in town.
The newsletter contained a map of a new zone, in which affordable housing would be allowed. The map showed all the land between Valley and Lyons Roads in the new zone. Unfortunately, no one with common sense reviewed the printed document before it was mailed. It was regular black and white newsprint, and the new zone showed as a big black blob in the middle of the township.
The town exploded. There were SRO meetings with angry objectors–first in Town Hall, then in Ridge High, and finally in William Annin, which had the largest auditorium in those days. My wife sat in the back of one meeting and heard a man growl as he stormed out: “Someday I’m going to shoot those bastards.”
I’m sure you see a parallel with the quarry plan you presented last October . But the people, who have spoken at your meetings, have been much more courteous and rational, and much less angry than those I remember from 1975. You have had it easy.
What we proposed in 1975 was a huge mistake. But there was a good ending. Township officials and advisors went back to the drawing board, engaged the public in discussions, and produced a much better proposal in the spring. It became the basis for an ordinance that was adopted in May 1976, with broad public support and virtually no visible opposition.
You should reject the October plan, but continue the quarry planning process. The public has become engaged. Keep them engaged and develop a plan that will be an all-around win. One that will satisfy the quarry owner, benefit the town, and make you and the community proud.
I saw this done 42 years ago. Let’s do it again this year.
Bill Allen, 01-22-18
Notes:
- This letter, the two referred to in it, and other relevant documents and information are on website quarryfutures.org
- I plan to read this letter at your meeting on January 24.