Sierra Club Raritan Valley Group Issues


	New Jersey Chapter Raritan Valley Group

Raritan Valley Group > Stopping a Development

Stopping developments is difficult, because developers spend lots of money on lobbying to get laws that favor them.

See Use and Preservation in New Jersey: A Beginner's Guide (newjersey.sierraclub.org/ConCom/LUandP_NJ2010.pdf)

Some of the ways you can stop a development:

Endangered species: (Federal | State)
A Darby Tract development in Bridgewater NJ was stopped because NJ Audubon found a spotted owl.
In another development people claimed they saw a box turtle, which is on the endangered list.
If you find one fill out the form at NJDEP Division of Fish & Wildlife - Reporting Rare Wildlife Sightings
Steep Slopes
C1 or C2 stream buffers
Wetlands

From: Jane Sent: Wednesday, July 4, 2012 12:04 AM

It is important to get someone to go to town hall and get copies of whatever the township has on this file. Also there will be a legal notice in your local paper. If you get a local paper, start reading. legal notices.

Wetland protection may be very important, depending on what category of wetlands you have, . Also there are guidelines for wildlife found on the property. That agency in the DEP might be able to check that out. State agencies are busy people and they have the whole state to deal with so they may not be able to help. . Then it is up to citizens to find and pay for their own experts. The other alternative is to have a very strong lawyer question the builder's experts.

As you can tell, I have been here before and been involved in many citizen cases. Each land use has its own personality. The fight for right is always a very difficult one.

Contacts:
Heritage Trail Association info@heritagetrail.org
Raymond Brown - Secretary- Director of the Somerset County Park Commission,
Tom D'Amico Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission damico@co.somerset.nj.us
Scarlett Doyle, Bridgewater Township Planner, doyle45@comcast.net 908.725.6300 x5535
NJDEP Green Acres Staff Contacts

Amanda Dey, PhD
Principal Zoologist
Endangered & Nongame Species Program
Division of Fish and Wildlife
NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection
8747 Ferry Road
Millville, NJ  08332

856.785.2711 (O)

Wetlands:
On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 7:16 AM, Laura Lynch wrote:

Wetlands are defined by:

Water table 18" or less from the surface
Hydric soils (soils that show distinct characteristics of being wet)
Vegetation (obligatory or facultative wetland plants)

Not all 3 need be present because disturbance can alter some of these characteristics. The rules are detailed. A professional determination is required.

Under a certain size, wetlands can be filled in without compensation. Above that size, mitigation, restoration, or paying into a land bank is required.

The last time I had any close familiarity with the rules was 1996. I don't know what has changed since then.

Find wetlands at:
njwebmap.state.nj.us/NJGeoWeb/
I had to use firefox or Internet Explorer, safari and chrome didn't work. Search - Enter address, zip click + by land, Then check Wetlands

Recreation and Open Space Inventory (ROSI):
In order to receive Green Acres assistance, a municipality must have an approved Open Space and Recreational Plan, including an updated ROSI as part of its Master Plan. The ROSI lists all the available deed-restricted land for recreation or conservation purposes within a municipality.
See:
NJDEP Green Acres Program - Open Space Database (www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres/openspace.html)
You can search for Green Acres in your Municipality there.

Non-Profits who buy land:
The Nature Conservancy (www.tnc.org)
Trust for Public Land (www.tpl.org)
See www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres/staff.html for NJDEP staff who may also be able to help.
Last updated 7/6/2012