Pittsgrove Township Environmental Commission

Minutes of the September 26, 2005 Meeting

 

  1.  Meeting called to order at 7:36 pm by the chairman.

 

  2.  The pledge to the flag was given.

     

        3.  Open Public Meetings Act compliance statement

           Adequate notice pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given   of this meeting by:

      a. Forwarding notice thereof to Today’s Sunbeam and the Daily Journal,

      b. Posting notice thereof on the community events bulletin board at the  Pittsgrove Township Municipal Building, and

      c. Filing notice thereof in the Office of the Municipal Clerk;

      all having been done at least 48 hours in advance.

 

  4.   Attendance: Regular members Herb Wegner, Meghan Hack, Bob Morse, Greg  Hickson and Debby Turner-Fox; alternate member Trish Jankauskas; and                associate members Bob Widdifield, Dave Hunt, and Tom Figlio.

 

5.    Approval of minutes of the July 25, 2005 meeting: Bob Morse made a motion to approve the minutes, Greg Hickson seconded the motion; all approved.

 

 

6.   Unfinished Business

 

Redevelopment Status –Jim Shuster reported to Herb Wegner that the Redevelopment effort is going to necessitate getting a committee together to help plan the redevelopment area.  We need to be sure that we have a representative from our commission.  In July, the EDC sent the EC a letter to identify the environmentally sensitive areas.  We are consulting our ERI and OSP as well as IMaps to get this report.  Green Acres has agreed to send the EC a map of the Rainbow Lake area to help us.  All discharge from Rainbow Lake has a 300 foot buffer because it is Category 1, and members of the EDC talked about possibly increasing that. We need to advise them of the extent of the category 1 area. We also need to investigate groundwater recharge areas.  The Maurice River currently has a deficit according to the Watershed Task Force.

 

Farmland PIG- Herb issued two sets of letters to the owners of the four farms currently in the process of getting offers. So far there is one acceptance and one refusal.

 

Green Acres Projects:

  1. Dixon Property on Almond Road; it should be going to settlement the end of this   month.  The township is responsible for cleaning up the site following settlement.

  2. Danna Property near Thundergust

  3. Clark Property just south of Running Deer on Parvins Mill Road

  4. Running Deer Property

 

A meeting is to be held Thursday at Parvin State Park with Green Acres and the Division of Parks and Forestry in attendance to discuss the future of acquisitions in the vicinity of Parvin State Park. The meeting is not open to the public

 

The owners of the Renwick property on McKishen and Lawrence Corner Roads have applied to Green Acres for preservation. The property can help form a greenway     because it connects wetlands to Deer Pen Park.

 

The Briar Hill property on Route 40 with 96 acres is currently being considered for development. The owners have been contacted by the Natural Land Trust which is    interested in possibly preserving the land because of the forest and wetlands

 

 Three letters were sent to the Planning Board regarding:

 Comments on the Liccardillo site plan

 Our proposed Stream Setback Ordinance 60-53

 Recommending clustering in Rural-Residential areas in the same manner that it is applied to agricultural areas

    Bob Widdifield met with the planner who said the such clustering would be in concert with the Master Plan. 

                     

 

7. New Business

                

The Stormwater Management Ordinance Draft is not in a presentable stage yet. Bob Morse would like to be included in the review process.

 

Discussion of COAH-3 approvals. The Master Plan needs to be revised next year and perhaps affordable housing could be a part of the revision

 

        Discussion of clustering- comments should be given to the Planning Board.

 

        Discussion of water recharge on golf courses and farm fields.  There are many   factors, such as density and type of grass as well as aeration of soil

       

Reports on area meetings-

Herb went to the Environmental Infrastructure Trust meeting at Appel Farm about the operation of the Green Acres acquisition process. 

County Open Space meeting-August 24

CREP meeting about drainage system on farms- an expensive process, but very effective

 

Upcoming meetings-

ANJEC meeting on October 21st   -Herb will be talking about Open Space.

The monthly County Open Space meeting will be on Thursday September 29th .

 

  8.  Issues before the Planning Board

Greg Hickson recommended that when the EC gives recommendations to thePlanning Board, they are looked over by a professional before they come to the Board.  Discussion ensued about the recommendation process.  The EC is an advisory board to the Planning Board and it is a normal procedure for the EC to give recommendations to the Board without an attorney’s review.  Because of  timelines, it is important to make recommendations early to have time to get  environmental comments reviewed when appropriate.  The Planning Board   Chairman will forward correspondence from the EC to the Planning Board solicitor if the Planning Board wishes so. 

 

    Greg stated that many completeness reviews have come in; some have been deemed complete; others still need information to be deemed complete.

 

    Bob Widdifield suggested that we get a kayak trip together to clean the upper Maurice River, much like the one organized for the lower Maurice River- maybe          we could partner with the Vineland Environmental Commission and other organizations.   The EC Public Relations Subcommittee will look at this further.  

 

9.  Communications-None at this time

     

      10.  Member Comments-none

     

      11.  Public Comments- none

     

12. Greg Hickson made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Debby Turner-Fox seconded the motion; all approved.