VERONA TOWN COUNCIL DENOUNCES WEST ESSEX HIGHLANDS DEVELOPMENT

Local residents opposing the planned West Essex Highland, Inc. development have long held the view that the impact of building an apartment complex in the middle of a 120-acre forest would be felt beyond the borders of West Orange.

Verona’s elected officials now agree.

The Verona Town Council has become the first neighboring municipality to pass an official resolution denouncing the project, requesting that the West Orange Planning Board deny the application.

The decision comes after the township hired Boswell Engineering whose report recommends placing the forest in a “permanent conservation easement.” This echoes a similar call to preserve the land as open space that came from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation last year.

The report was especially critical of the plan’s stormwater management system. It identifies one of the four buildings – Building D – as a particular threat. Building D, which at six stories, is the tallest of the four buildings and would be constructed near Howell Drive on top of a ridgeline, would disrupt both the Peckman River and Canoe Brook watersheds, both of which are located within the forest, the report said.

The loss of thousands of trees that would be cut down for the project would increase runoff toward Verona, the report states. The report also holds that the proposed drainage system would be inadequate to withstand the most severe weather events. 

Verona Councilman Jack McEvoy presented the resolution to the West Orange Planning Board at their September meeting and repeated the report’s findings that the 496-unit development was not being held to the state’s most up-to-date stormwater rules. 

“We are asking you to have the applicant work under the current New Jersey stormwater management rules and regulations,” McEvoy said. “If they’re using the old regulations, what good are they if there is a new set of regulations that should be enforced?”

Meanwhile, the West Orange Town Council is currently revising its stormwater management ordinance. Although the motion to approve the legislation failed at the last council meeting, the draft of the proposed new law includes a line stating that when two laws clash, the “higher standards shall control,” which seems to suggest that outdated stormwater standards would not be permitted going forward.

Despite the proposed changes to the law, Brian Plocker, the lawyer representing West Essex Highlands, Inc., said the application will adhere to the old regulations. Plocker cited an email from Danielle Jones, an engineer for New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, that states that although new stormwater regulations have been under review, the development would be held to the “previous version” of the stormwater regulations.

“The Freshwater Wetlands stormwater review is being conducted under the version of the rule which was current at the time that the application was submitted,” Plocker read.

Bruce Afran, a lawyer for We Care, the nonprofit opposing the development, asserted that the “new regulations must be deemed to apply.”

“We do not necessarily accept that the engineer from DEP’s conclusion is correct,” Afran said. “As a matter of law she is not necessarily a decider of the legal question in terms of what regulations are applicable.”

Of all the problems that residents mention in their opposition to this development, the stormwater issues are at the top of the list. Flooding has become a major concern due to the dangers it poses and the costs associated with repairs and decreased property values.

However, members of the Verona Town Council, said at their September meeting that Boswell Engineering’s report on stormwater management was only one of the reasons why the Verona Town Council is asking the Planning Board to deny the application. Other concerns included traffic, potential harm to wildlife, and environmental damage due to the loss of trees.

“There are a lot of reasons, other than just stormwater, to deny the application,”said Councilman Alex Roman.