Cape May Refuge Is Not for Sale

To The Editor:
The Middle Township Planning Board approved a new master plan June 24 that would push high-density development into the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge. Now the master plan is before the Township Committee, which is in the process of implementing it through new ordinances and changes to existing zoning.
Middle residents and other members of the public need to attend these meetings now and let their elected officials know that the Cape May Refuge is not for sale. In three instances the master plan would permit developers to place high-density housing adjacent to existing refuge lands in environmentally sensitive areas long ago approved for inclusion in the refuge. If the public lets them get away with it, the town will only be emboldened to do it again and again until the refuge becomes too fragmented to serve its purpose, to protect irreplaceable wildlife.
The 2003 master plan called upon the township “to protect and enhance the refuge by supporting the protection of natural resources and water quality of lands adjacent to it.” The former plan even recommended reducing development pressure and intensity in these areas by increasing lot sizes by three to 10 acres.
Unfortunately, town officials wanted development instead and kept the one-acre zoning in place. The result was tragic if not predictable. According to the town’s own master plan, in just 10 short years, Middle Township lost over half of its farms (77 of them) as well as 33 percent of vacant land (mostly woodlands) to development. Apparently such staggering losses aren’t enough, so town officials have created a new master plan that calls for over 5,000 new houses on 1,960 acres of remaining farmland and unprotected open space that will result in 11,624 more residents, a 70 percent increase in population.
Township residents have protested the inclusion of refuge acquisition boundaries within urban growth centers, but some Middle officials believe they know better. Last year public outcry led the town Zoning Board to deny an application for a 90-unit affordable housing project in Court House, which also happened to be located within the refuge land acquisition boundaries.
The developer, Conifer Realty, appealed the board’s denial. However, on July 14, the board’s decision was upheld by Superior Court Judge Valerie Armstrong who, in the words of the Zoning Board attorney Robert Fineberg, noted that the developer failed to “sufficiently address the negative criteria,” which included the fact that the site is “surrounded by a wildlife refuge.”
Despite both the Zoning Board’s denial, and the Superior Court’s decision, Middle officials have decided to leave the environmentally sensitive site within the urban growth and affordable housing zone anyway.
The Cape May Refuge protects one of the most important migratory bird sites in North America – not just for shorebirds dependent on abundant horseshoe crab eggs, but for tens of thousands of neo-tropical songbirds representing over 200 species, which depend on the county’s dwindling forestlands to refuel and rest in after crossing the Delaware Bay.
The public has invested millions in ongoing efforts to grow the refuge into an ecological whole. Indeed, the refuge has only acquired 11,800 acres of the 21,820 acres that congress envisioned necessary to protect wetlands and wildlife resources of international importance. Middle Township officials are poised to once again ignore that investment as they create new development schemes that are tearing apart the vision of a completed and ecologically sound wildlife refuge piece by piece.
The only antidote for such wanton disregard is citizen action. We urge the public to call upon Middle Township Mayor Susan DeLanzo to remove the refuge acquisition boundaries from the urban growth centers.
MATT BLAKE
Millville