LOCAL RESIDENTS SEEK REDRESS: PRESERVED LAND FIGHT WINNABLE

21 Feb LOCAL RESIDENTS SEEK REDRESS: PRESERVED LAND FIGHT WINNABLE

CONTACT INFORMATION:                                                                   
Conservation Warren/Save Wagner Farm
Media Contact: Nicole Schenk: (908) 458-6883
Media Contact: Anne Weisgerber: (908) 991-6665
email address: info@conservationwarren.com

LOCAL RESIDENTS SEEK REDRESS: PRESERVED LAND FIGHT WINNABLE

Citizens Challenge Town’s Development of Land Targeted for Ecological Preservation

WARREN TWP, NEW JERSEY, FEB. 21, 2022— Recognizable for their yellow and black SAVE WAGNER FARM signs, citizens in Warren Township have mobilized to save taxpayer-purchased, ecologically sensitive land from development. Fundraising is underway to support two current legal challenges. Donations can be made via the Help George Vetter Save Wagner Farm GoFundMe.

Twenty years ago, Warren Township used public funds to purchase land from the Wagner family dairy farm. The town issued a resolution, indicating the land would be used for the purpose of ecological protection, open space, and recreation. The property is enjoyed by residents, bird-watchers, canoers, gardeners, and astronomers. It is a pristine, ecologically sensitive habitat, home to a variety of birds, mammals, and reptiles. Because the property includes known threatened species, the Department of Environmental Protection rates it a Class 5.

The land has no sewer access and no public water source. Despite being purchased in 2001 as preserved space, more than 10 acres have been carved out for a 36-unit, multi-family residential complex with its own sewage treatment plant. To make the land usable, the project requires 20,000 cubic yards of fill dirt, about 1,250 dump truck loads, to level this heavily sloped paradise.

Warren Township’s Planning Board approved the project at 188 Mountain Avenue at its November 22, 2021 meeting. The approval met with objection from Chairman Daniel Gallic, ending in a 6-2 vote.

Neighbors directly adjacent to the proposed 36-unit development, George and Deborah Vetter of 182 Mountain Avenue, have retained lawyer Bruce Afran, Esq. of Princeton, to stop the loss of this ecologically sensitive oldfield tract. The Vetter’s GoFundMe for legal fees has raised over $10,000, but depending on how long it takes to resolve the case, up to $40,000 may be needed for the legal fight. Public support and donations are needed.

Afran said the legal battle to protect this land is far from over and the Vetters have a strong case. His points include: a planning board cannot approve sewage treatment plants in an environmentally sensitive zone. Also, the Dept. of Environmental Protection needs to issue a general permit, which Afran deems unlikely on this lot, which includes wetlands, threatened species, and drains directly to the Passaic River.

In terms of public faith in local government, Afran’s Feb. 2 interview posted online noted the Township’s approval (to lease 10.2 acres of land to a builder for $1 a year with option to purchase for $850,000 in the future), as “a bit of a bait and switch.” Afran said, “In 2001 the township allocated money to buy this land and it said in the resolution the land was to be used for the purpose of preservation, ecological protection, and open space and recreation.

“This is really consistent with the whole area in general which is a natural area. It is part of the county master plan, in fact, for preservation and this is what the public was told: that the property will be purchased for these purposes.

“We are running out of preserved areas,” Afran said, “and we have to be very careful that those areas intended to be preserved are not used for development.”

HELP IS NEEDED.

Donations to the Vetter’s legal fund can be made at the Help George Vetter Save Wagner Farm GoFundMe page.

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