Middle Township Committee Approves First Reading of Master Plan

COURT HOUSE — The Middle Township Committee passed the first reading of an ordinance changing the township’s Master Plan at its meeting Wed., July 6. But the approval was not without its opponents.
Jessica Daher, Conservation Coordinator of the American Littoral Society in Millville, told the committee that under the new master plan the township will be left with only 3,500 acres of green space and the population will increase by 11,000 people. “These numbers,” said Daher, “are unacceptable.”
According to Daher, the 2003 master plan called for one unit for every 10 acres in a rural conservation zone. “Not so,” replied Township Engineer Vincent Orlando. “It was one unit for every two acres.” The new master plan calls for one unit for every three and a half acres. Daher, however, asked the committee to the ten-acre requirement in the new plan, sans grandfathering for current property owners.
“You’re suggesting that we take away the building rights of property owners who have plans for those lots?,” asked Committeeman Daniel Lockwood.
Under the proposed plan, approximately 70 percent of the township will be zoned rural conservation. The 3.5-acre rule will only apply to new subdivisions. Current property owners will be grandfathered in under the current zoning rules.
Daher also told the committee that under the new plan the projected population of Middle Township would grow from its current 16,405 residents to 28,029, a 70 percent increase.
“It’s wrong because it sounds like it would be instantaneous,” said Orlando in an interview with the Herald. He cited the fact that in 2005, 2006, and 2007, during the years of tremendous real estate growth, “the population only grew by 2,000 people.” “There is not a net increase in the amount of growth. We’ve put more in town centers and less in conservation areas,” he added.
Daher asked the committee to take into consideration three areas in the township – an area on Railroad Avenue known as the Conifer Project, an area between Goshen Road and Johnson Avenue in Court House, and Secluded Acres, which is located at Secluded Lane and Route 47. “We’re asking that it be removed from the affordable housing area,” she said.
The new plan did call for those areas to be used as affordable housing sites in order to meet the requirements set by the state’s Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). The COAH, however, was eliminated from the state’s budget a few weeks ago, leaving municipalities up in the air over addressing affordable housing needs.
“Whatever happens, you’re going to have an obligation,” said Robert Noel, chairman of the township’s master plan committee. “You’re going to need four to five hundred affordable units.”
“It should be called ‘workforce housing’,” Orlando told the Herald. “Because it’s for housing that working-class people can purchase. It’s not Section 8 housing.”
“The public has spoken,” said Orlando. “They are not against this type of housing, but they want it integrated into the entire community.”
To that end, the new plan calls for properties in commercial areas to include apartments over the businesses, if so desired. “We’re trying to create reasonably priced accommodation for people in our community, and I think it will be successful,” said Orlando.
Kate Meade, a representative of the N.J. Office of Planning Advocacy told the commissioners, “This (plan) has required a collaboration…I feel it strikes a balance between economic growth and environmental issues.”
“We tried to work with the Littoral Society,” said Noel. “Every time we moved, something else came up. There has to be a balance. It’s not fair to take land from people who pay taxes. Birds don’t pay taxes.”
In addressing Dahre’s concerns, Noel told the Herald, “We worked hard for four years. We tried to strike a balance between protecting the environment and people who want to develop their properties. I’m not against what they’re thinking, but there has to be a balance. This plan will set the blueprint for a good quality of life.”