August 25, 2025, Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 101 West Orange property and I looked at the indicators of smart growth, and I am not going to repeat this because I think John did a really good job. But these are things that I would look at and looked at for this property as well. And then you saw that slide already, these are some very specific slides that come from the New Jersey Map that depict the property. You've seen it, it's right in the middle there, the rectangle, the second corridor that John already presented. Wetlands, you see, again, the wetlands that hit the site. And here is the core forest. These are core forest, that's Eagle Rock to the right. This is the last remaining core forest that's in preservation in all of Essex County and I think that's probably one of the most important pieces of all this. Core forest is an incredibly important resource and there's very little left in the region. This is a composite slide that shows steep slopes of the wetlands. One of the things I want to mention about forest and threat, in New Jersey upland forests like this forest have no protection. You know, resources that are protected in New Jersey include wetland,

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 102 wetland buffers, but not -- but forest, upland forest like this have virtually no protection. And that's another reason why it's so important to target property for preservation. Here's -- this shows the dark green forest in the middle surrounded by light green. Those are preserved lands with the exception of the golf course, which, as mentioned, it's nice to have now but those are not permanently preserved lands either. So there's an opportunity here to preserve the last remaining forest in Essex County and provide some connectivity to other surrounding lands. I just want to mention that New Jersey got a huge amount of open space funding right now and I am not going to go into the details of that, but there is not a problem finding funding for this property. So permanent preservation. This forest will prevent increased flooding. We all know it floods but by preserving it you're making sure it doesn't flood more. Protecting clean drinking water supplies. Make sure Essex Fells doesn't have degraded water to deal with increased open space and recreation in an area where it doesn't have enough already sequestered carbon in a time when we need to do everything we can to

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 103 protect air quality and wild life habitat and don't forget each of the ancestral lands of the Lenape and there's very little land left in the region and in that community. It's very concerning about this forest. And one thing I want to mention here that people don't talk about a lot, but by preserving the forest rather than developing it you have an opportunity to eliminate and at least significantly reduce the demand for municipal services in the future. I think that's a really important point to think about. What the cost would be to the town to service this proposed development and reduction or elimination of those costs that you have by preserving this use. The one time capital investment in land gives back dividends permanently over decades because of the benefits that it provides and the elimination of taxes in the future. This is exactly the type of forest envisioned by the report that I wrote. It creates a lasting legacy for the residents of West Orange and the region. The founding is available, the funding for preservation would provide multiple health and environmental benefits and save the town thousands of dollars in municipal services. So that's pretty much it and I thank you for the opportunity.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 104 MR. AFRAN: Just wait for questions. I have no questions. Thank you. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Thank you. Okay. Mayor McCartney. MAYOR McCARTNEY: No questions. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Vice Chairman Guarino. VICE CHAIRMAN GUARINO: No questions. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Mr. Alper. MR. ALPER: No questions. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Ms. Kapferer. MS. KAPFERER: No questions. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Mr. Cardoza. MR. CARDOZA: No questions. Thank you. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Counsel Person Scarpa. COUNCILWOMAN SCARPA: No questions. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Mr. Rizzo. MR. RIZZO: No questions. Thank you. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Mr. Haizel. MR. HAIZEL: No questions. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Do any members of the public have any questions? Please come up, be identified and you have three minutes. Seeing none. Thank you. I'm sorry. THE PUBLIC: Bob Sharenow, West Essex Highlands.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 105 You pointed out that funding for the purchase of this land and for preservation is available. Could you tell us more about that? How do we find out what is available, how much is available. And maybe you, the builders, would like to accept that and we could preserve this reservation like it should be reserved. How do we get to know what money is available? THE WITNESS: Okay. So I'm going to go down a quick rundown of funding that's available and this is for land all over the state but definitely applies here. New Jersey has a corporate business tax that is a constitutionally dedicated tax to provide a permanent source of funding for open space, farm land and historic preservation. That was back in 2014. And New Jersey right now has surplus funds because there's a lot of deals in the works that have not been completed by towns and counties, etc. So there's funding available at the state level through this corporate business tax. Furthermore, all 21 of New Jersey counties have open space bonds, both open space an farmland. Essex County particularly has been the leader in New Jersey in using their bond money, their county funding money to match with the state money to preserve land. So I think we are in a very good situation having a strong county

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 106 government, lots of county funds and state funds. There are, in addition, municipal bond funds. As you guys all know, many municipalities in the state, most municipalities have their own bond funds and also maps. So in a situation like this where there's a large extensive property that affects many communities all around, I can give you an example where we went after a 250 acre property, it was Western Electric, the first corporate campus in New Jersey in Hopewell Township. We had five municipalities and four non profits all bringing money to the table to match the state money and we got, I think, around 500 million -- no, how much money did we get. Not 500 million. We got somewhere around 1.5 million from private dollars, from some foundations and individuals who are philanthropists. So I can foresee that same situation here where multiple municipalities will come together in support of preservation, bring the dollars to the table along with the non profit community, the county and the state. THE PUBLIC: Thank you. Very informative and this is something to think about. I really hope somebody listens to what you're saying and maybe put some effort in finding out what this is really worth and maybe it would be worthwhile to do it. Thank you. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Thank you.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 107 Anyone else from the public who has questions? Please come up and be been identified. Seeing none. Thank you very much. THE WITNESS: Thank you. I appreciate it. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Mr. Afran. MR. AFRAN: Thank you, Ms. Byers. Mr. Chairman, one question before Mr. Litwornia begins his presentation. I know we're going to cutoff at 10:00. I was about to address the issue of Mr. Litwornia, but before I was going to do that I wanted to advise the Chair that the West Orange Environmental Commission now is authorized to speak and a representative, a commission member is here and would present you with a statement. So I was asking the Chair -- CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: We're going back to the experts. MR. AFRAN: I just want to ask how the Chair wants to handle that. May I have a moment, please. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Yes. (Whereupon, a short recess is taken.) CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Mr. Afran. MR. PLOCKER: I'm sorry, who got called, just for the record?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 108 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Mr. Afran is going to introduce him. MR. PLOCKER: Thank you. MR. AFRAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are back. We will call Mr. Litwornia and Litwornia Associates at the next meeting. We will proceed now to a statement, I guess, I am not sure what number to call this, but it's a statement by Mr. Jonathan -- MS. MCGOVERN: 0-24. MR. AFRAN: Okay. It's is a statement by Mr. Jonathan Redwine, who's a member of the West Orange Environmental Commission who will read both a letter and a resolution of the commission and I understand before Mr. Redwine does that, Mr. Plocker has a statement to make. CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Mr. Plocker. MR. PLOCKER: Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Afran, Mr. Chairman. I just want to make it clear for the board and everybody listening that an environmental commission in the state of New Jersey is created by statute. It's a section in the Municipal Land Use Law that gives a municipalities the power to create environmental commission. In this township, the Township of West

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 109 Orange, there is an ordinance through the town council which created this environmental commission. I am going to caution Mr. Redwine before he chooses to speak, make any statement about this project, that there is a settlement agreement between my client and the Township of West Orange. It's a settlement agreement that was entered into in connection with the towns own declaratory judgment litigation which was filed in July of 2015. That settlement was consummated in 2020, after five years of pending litigation. I'm not going to read it verbatim, I'm not going to go through every provision, but there is an unqualified obligation for this township who voluntarily chose to include this site in its third round affordable housing plan, decided to pursue approval with the assistance of a court appointed special adjudicator to the Superior Court of New Jersey and decided to comply with its settlement obligations by zoning the property and putting in the IH zone that this Planning Board is now considering here this evening. In that settlement agreement there is an unqualified obligation by my client to cooperate with the town and for this township to cooperate with my client to defend the settlement and to support this project. That being said, any statement to the contrary could be viewed as a breach of that settlement agreement and my client would

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 110 reserve its rights, including bringing a complaint in the Superior Court of New Jersey. MR. AFRAN: Mr. Chairman, I'll just respond briefly. Obviously we don't agree with the statement by Mr. Plocker, though he did give me the curtesy of telling me in advance he would be making the statement. This is similar to a letter Mr. Plocker sent to the town council, including two members of this board who sit on the council, in which he said similar statements. That actions by the town council critiquing or attempting to critique have any affect on this plan would be a breach of that settlement agreement and the developer stated to Mr. Plocker in that letter that it would be reserving its power to sue the town for breach of contract. So Mr. Plocker's statements here are similar to statements he made, his client has made through Mr. Plocker on another occasion in the course this hearing. We believe such statements are improper because they're an attempt to influence members of the board who sit on the board, who sit on the board who are members of the council and received that letter in their official duties as members of the board. We also think that his statements are designed to have a coercive or intimidating affect on the environmental commission, which though created by statute is created for the very specific purpose of