Ltr to Chairman Neuer and ZBA Members w EXHIBITS FOR LTR REQUESTING 2 BD MEMBERS REQUSAL 2 10 25 PSEG 325 MT PLEASANT WO

Photo credit: John Haydu From Joyce Rudin, Board Member: This Wednesday, September 11 at 7:30 p.m., the West Orange Planning Board continues hearing the West Essex Highlands application. The plan to put up four high-rise buildings with 500 apartments requires cutting down 6,300 trees, and could portend the disturbance of steep slopes and create the possibility of more flooding and traffic danger to the neighbors living near Oval Road. There is a Zoom option, but for those who wish to question the developer's witnesses, including its civil and traffic engineer, it is essential that West Orange residents come to Town Hall, 66 Main Street at 7:30 p.m. Only those in attendance can ask questions. Watch the meeting on Zoom here. For more information on this application, click here for the full agenda. Read this article in The Four Oranges. Or visit We Care’s website.

Tonight, September 19 at 8 p.m., PSE&G comes to the Zoning Board with plans to renovate its switching station on Prospect Avenue and Mount Pleasant Avenue. The plan involves cutting down over 130 mature trees, including some of the biggest trees in New Jersey. For over 100 years, the energy company’s station at the corner of Prospect and Mount Pleasant Avenues has been concealed within a park-like setting, surrounded by mature trees and a historic 100-year-old wrought iron fence with brick pillars. Now, PSEG plans to replace this classic fencing with what Our Green West Orange describes as a “cheap black metal prison fence." The new fence would significantly diminish the aesthetic and historical value of the area and add to the ongoing depletion of West Orange’s crucial tree canopy. PSEG claims that the trees must be removed in order to replace the fence. But Joyce Rudin, Our Green West Orange board member, strongly disagrees. “The current fence can easily be repaired rather than replaced,” Rudin said. "It does not make sense to destroy trees to install an unattractive metal fence.” Particularly concerning is the planned removal of the small-leaf linden trees, a species that closely resembles those listed on New Jersey's Big Tree list, a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection registry of the largest trees in the state.

"These are not just any trees—these are some of the most magnificent in all of New Jersey,” Rudin added. "Cutting them down would be an irreversible loss to our community’s natural heritage." Please tell the Zoning Board and PSEG they must retain all the trees along the fence, those in the proposed detention basins, and the specimen trees being cut for no good reason at all. Watch the meeting on Zoom here. Sign up for blog updates! Join my email list to receive updates and information. Email address SIGN UP Recent Posts West Essex Highlands at the Planning Board tonight Dec 11, 2024 TONIGHT: ZONING BOARD HEARS MEAT SMOKERS APPLICATION Nov 14, 2024 SITE PLAN REVIEW FOR MEAT SMOKERS APPLICATION Oct 28, 2024

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