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A group of concerned citizens who call themselves ‘The North Brunswick Residents Against High Density Housing’, also known as “NBR,” announced today the filing of a lawsuit against the Township of North Brunswick challenging the legality of a recent Township decision to rezone the Pulda farm, the last farm in the Township, for high density housing. “We have retained attorney Michele Donato, one of the state’s foremost authorities on land use law and she has advised us that we have a good chance of having the rezoning change invalidated,” said Ben Galioto, spokesman for the group. Despite overwhelming
opposition and a petition signed
by 880 residents, the current council
members voted 4-2 to rezone this
land on August 2, 2004. The Pulda
farm, a seventy acre parcel of
land, has been zoned R1 (single
family low density residential)
since at least 1984. Since 1994,
the Master Plan has proposed the
farm for estate zoning and public
purposes. The recent change to
Planned Adult Community or PAC
(high-density housing) is inconsistent
with this long term planning and
is not based on the suitability
of the land for such high-density
housing. The PAC would allow for
345 units including three 50-foot
tall buildings. The R1 zoning would
have allowed for a maximum of 80
homes. “Since council members
Socio, Davis, Chandlee and Lyles
chose to ignore the opinion of
nearly 1000 tax paying citizens
who signed the petition and continued
with the rezoning of a PAC, residents
were forced to explore other means
to prevent this rezoning,” Galioto
added. |
A
conscientious group of residents united to
form a non-profit organization in order to
challenge the rezoning. “If a PAC is
permitted on this property, it will forever
affect the quality of life for North Brunswick
residents who live on or near Route 130. In
addition, development at the density proposed
will negatively affect Farrington Lake, a drinking
water source. NBR is determined to see the
Pulda farm become open space and to assure
that the owner receives fair market value for
the property. We will exhaust every avenue
possible to see this beautiful parcel of land
preserved undeveloped so that every resident
and future generations can enjoy this land.” commented
Keith Silverman an organization trustee, “NBR
feels strongly about the need to maintain this
property as open space due to the environmental
impact of 345 units, 600-700 residents and
just as many additional cars.”
“The Mayor has challenged our integrity on local television suggesting that we have not been ‘completely truthful’ because our legal challenge can be only to the zoning change. It is he who has not been completely truthful about the exorbitant financial gain the zoning change has created for the developer, who is one of the largest contributors to the Political Action Committee that supported Womack’s election campaign,” said Barbara Lewinson Esq. Spokeswoman and assisting legal counsel. Lewinson continued, “Make no mistake, this legal challenge is but the first battle of the war. Our ultimate goal is the preservation of this property as open space consistent with the long term planning goals of the Township.” Residents are invited
to visit www.savethepuldafarm.org
to learn more about this issue
and how they can help. |
News 12 NJ (08/02/04) Link
to Play the video News 12 NJ(08/01/04) Link
to Play the video |
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News 12 NJ (08/23/04)Please
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Garden
State EnviroNet: Many Locations Preserve Farms / North Brunswick
Rezones for High Density Housing. Sentinel: June 17, 2004 North Brunswick mayor,
council should rethink Pulda farm rezoning issue. http://nbs.gmnews.com/news/2004/0617/Letters/043.html North Brunswick Sentinel 'Pulda farm zoning debate
continues' July 29, 2004 North Brunswick Sentinel 'Proposed Pulda housing won’t
benefit seniors' July 22, 2004 North Brunswick Sentinel 'Council approves senior zone change'
July 8, 2004 East Brunswick Sentinel 'Neighbors talk about lakeside
development' April 29, 2004 In the mid 1990s I wrote a letter to the editor of the NY Times for a Metro section article about the Pulda Farm. As I recall I argued for the farmer to decide, but that the township had an interest in preserving the farm as a heritage site. I attended Maple Meade school in the mid-1960s and recall some of my fondest childhood memories from the boarder between the farm fields and the school playground - how the monarch butterflies would feed on the milkweed that grew there, how the autumn sun was still warm on my face and bathed the corn stalks golden, how the principal even took us for nature walks along the farm fields' edge. I recall the farmer (Mr. Pulda) and his threshing tractor working the fields while I was sitting under the maples that used to be there. North Brunswick needs the Pulda Farm to be a living site for a connection with the state's past as an agricultural state. All the rural and agricultural sites in NJ just north of North Brunswick that are depicted in George Inness' 19th century paintings are gone; it sounds absurd to think he painted scenes called "NJ wheat fields". I can look at his paintings from well over 100 years ago and know what he was referring to because I grew up in North Brunswick when we still had RFD addresses - and that really wasn't that long ago. The farm can be a natural open space, a teaching farm for now urban kids to learn about 19th and 20th century farming, it can be a wildlife haven - especially for migratory birds and butterflies, it can best serve the township by neither being developed for housing nor for sports fields. This is North Brunswick's absolute last opportunity to preserve and project into the future the agricultural heritage that once made up our hodgepodge township. I grew up on Church Lane and when I came home from three years active duty in England with the Air Force in 1988 the woods I had grown up in were nearly gone. I was nearly 30 and I cried like a child. I'm over 40 now and I find it hard to believe that this issue has not been resolved in favor of preservation. Look up the Genesee Country Museum on the Internet and find a model for something the farm could be for central NJ. Development be damned. There's already plenty in North Brunswick. Keep the farm - develop it, if you will - as a site for living heritage and open, natural space. Robert Byron Breese, Major, USAF |
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NBRAHDH: North Brunswick Residents Against
High Density Housing
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