Dear Editor:
Don’t believe what Mayor James Barberio said about the money for the “open space”; that if certain parties did not protest open space money would have come from the County. 1) It was not appropriate for such funds under the circumstance; remember it was RD’s buffer and did not meet criteria for open space requirements under the County. The County official even remarked it was one of the worse proposals ever put forth. 2) the group that protested also petitioned the County to help us in their power to buy the whole landscape as open space because of the character inherent in the landscape, ground water recharge, and neighborhood and regional enhancement.
If for example the whole landscape of the waterview was intact as an ecosystem with its natural assets undisturbed; not fragmented by the developer if may have stood a chance; under Highlands Conformance which Parsippany has rejected without public consent or transparency the landscape could of been considered “community-environmentally constrained sub-zone” and given legal protections as such, perhaps even considered rezoned off the market ,recognized in the light of so important as to be taken off-market for its long term benefits in the water cycle and community enhancement, especially to the immediate neighborhood Under conformance Belle Meade would of received their fair share market value for the land.
One good citizen also brought light to the fact when the POD zone was established these landscapes were zoned as an area with their buffer landscapes already build into the zone. Waterview was left that way for environmental and ecological reasons being in the Troy Brook Watershed, and giving balance and biodiversity, nature’s stormwater, water cycle quality and quantity cycle back to the aquifer at no costs to anyone. This original arrangement was subverted and forgotten. The Earth a natural resource in itself turned back into real estate.
Morris County does not conform to regional planning itself. So by not being in conformance to the Regional Plan Parsippany became its own worst enemy. Instead of science and law; including legal protections available under conformance, we left ourselves purposely vulnerable to gangster developers like RD.
It is time to ask; why are we being denied regional conformance? Why is the public not encourage to learn more and the administration transparent and truthful about the advances and benefits concerned in Regional Planning? By completing an environmental resource inventory and identifying unique environmentally sensitive areas, as our own master plan contends waterview could have been saved. Instead we paid for a lawsuit for an issue that was moot at the time, RD trying to rezone the land without Parsippany in their equation, knowing that all such lawsuits were inappropriate at the time because the Courts were in the process of settling the affordable housing issue. Now we have the three and one half million dollars of our tax dollars going for what still amounts to a buffer. In that area of the Troy Brook are steep slopes and slopes galore a buffer of the type we are calling open space; would of been necessary no matter. The area is also in a flood prone area, as any land use capability map would show. Its consolidated soils the best kind for water recharge and filtering will now be polluted by runoff and impervious surface.
The terrain feature known as Doremus Ridge the last of the hills of Troy will certainly, slowly but surely implode and erode. The Trees will lose their vitality, the stormwater engineering will not be maintained properly, and will not be capable of the same natural process by waterview’s consolidated soils of glacial till, further injuring our recharge, and water quality.
Replacing science with politics and politicians who think little of public environmental values, but only private economic concerns and tax dollars do not deserve our support. The continuation of their salaries is more important than the long term health of our water and quality of life. Progress in a myth science and good land use is not. Our master plan is a worthless piece of paper; as it changes continuously with every new corporate scheme of the big landowners. It is against a great moral law to be unjustly enriched at the costs of other. That is what just occurred on Tuesday, November 10 at Town Hall.
Loss of a valuable beyond money asset, and robbery of our open space funds; RD cleaned up real good. Who will be left with the real mess? Our well heads are protected in theory, but not really so, as groundwater recharge areas in Parsippany are not protected. Without these recharge areas the well will go dry and the water quality will degrade. Add the UPS new development; called redevelopment, waterview and other already developed places most vacant an idle all in the same extended landscape all Route 46 and we can look forward to more traffic, litter, floods and loss of the sense of home; America the beautiful? No it’s their country right or wrongs certainly not ours.
RD and our officials allowed; turned a civic obligation COAH that Parsippany may not have even had to adhere to. (254 affordable housing units in 2010 into 666 then thousands) The chorus sang higher, higher numbers even while COAH does not exist, but builder’s remedy, into a threat, because our Town is not our own and RD and Belle Mead have their property rights. Parsippany’s answer, scorched earth; develop all the open land so public housing can’t come here. Is not that a deliberate evasion and purpose exclusion for the alleged housing responsibility that if true will have to be built somewhere anyway? Let us save tax-dollars by abolishing our master plan expense and discontinue the environmental and open space committee, they are a waste of money. Under the present NJDEP you can rest assured this site plan will be streamlined and fast tracked, into construction as the present administration in Trenton does not protect the environment, health, safety or welfare of its citizens. Money can’t buy love, but love can be bought for money.
Nicholas Homyak
