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Environmental Impact Mulled in Jackson Plan
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**This article originally appeared in the August 26, 2004 issue of the TriTown News.
Local officials fear commercial campus could harm Barnegat Bay
BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer
JACKSON — Environmental Commission Chairman Richard Borys has sent attorney Raymond Shea an 11-page commission report that contains what Borys believes are concerns about the environmental impact of the proposed Jackson Commons.
Shea represents Mitch Leigh, the developer. Jackson Commons is a 38-building commercial campus Leigh wants approval to build near Interstate 195, on Cedar Swamp Road and East Commodore and West Commodore boulevards.
Leigh is seeking two variances from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. One would enable him to build a 55-foot hotel in a zone limiting buildings to 50 feet. The second would allow Leigh to build a warehouse distribution center in a highway commercial zone. Both the hotel and the warehouse distribution center are prominent design features in his proposed project, along with four regional storm water basins that also would serve other developments.
The zoning board has been hearing the application since April. On Sept. 22, board members must vote on the application or it will automatically be approved since Shea has indicated that Leigh will not grant a time extension.
There was no meeting of the zoning board in August to hear the application for Jackson Commons, but a joint meeting of the Environmental Commission and six zoning board members was held Aug. 18.
Environmental Commission members present included Borys, Vice Chairman Denise Garner, Gene Fowler, Susan Anton-Switka, Steve Chisholm and Kathy Bott-DiGesu.
Zoning board members present included Chairman Michael Kelly, Vice Chairman Meredith Acacia, Scott Weinstein, Adam Ziobro, Peter Maher and Peter Clute. Zoning board attorney Robert Rothstein also attended.
Kelly said board members had received 48 hours notice that their presence was being requested for the joint meeting.
Although no one was present to represent Leigh, David Eareckson, vice president of LGA Engineering and a civil engineer working on the Jackson Commons project, addressed some of the report’s questions days later as well as comments commission and board mem-bers made at the meeting.
At the start of the meeting, Borys distributed his commission’s 11-page report, which is based on an environmental impact statement dated January 2004 submitted with Leigh’s application for Jackson Commons.
In the opening paragraphs of the report, the commission questioned why it was in the best interests of residents to approve Leigh’s application and request for variances.
"Why … should the town grant approval for the entire project at the outset, thereby abandoning its ability to control the development process?" the report states.
Shea has said in testimony that the commercial development could take 15 years or longer to build out, and would be completed in stages. He also said during testimony that a separate application would be submitted for each building Leigh sought to build.
Leigh is seeking preliminary approval now, which would enable him to build the development’s infrastructure and internal road system.
The report also pointed out that interest rates were rising. It asked what the economic consequences would be if capital needed to complete Jackson Commons was too expensive.
Eareckson said that particular consideration appeared to be outside the purview of the Environmental Commission.
The report maintained that ongoing construction, dependent upon market forces, would be a blight to residents and that the development might never be occupied or completed.
Eareckson dismissed those concerns. He said the development would include landscaping and that buildings would be built one at a time after being approved by the board. He also said a proposal to build medians with landscaping for aesthetic purposes had been well received by Ocean County engineering officials. Medians would be part of the development’s proposed road improvements.
The report asserted that construction could inadvertently contaminate the Toms River or the Metedeconk River. It cited an environmental impact statement submitted by LGA Engineering.
That report said surface water flows from the site in a southerly direction and drains into the Toms River and a tributary of the south branch of the Metedeconk River. Since the Metedeconk was designated a protected Category 1 waterway last month, Jackson residents could be held responsible if they approve an application that causes the contamination, the report states.
"Is a project of this scope really going to have no potentially harmful results that will have to be dealt with by some entity?" the environmental commission report states. "Are the preparations for this undertaking so godlike that all has been foreseen and provided for in advance?"
Eareckson said the Ocean County Soil Conservation District has already approved Jackson Commons proposed design to protect the streams. He said that since the county is responsible for approving the protective environmental safeguards, Jackson residents would not be liable for any failure by Leigh to meet those requirements.
"It would actually be Mr. Leigh who would be held responsible since the soil conservation district would hold the developer liable for any deviation from the plans submitted to that organization," Eareckson said.
During the meeting, Garner said the project would take away natural vegetation, affecting runoff.
Eareckson said storm water management systems would account for the increased runoff generated by changes in the land cover. He said in testimony at previous board hearings that the four regional storm water management systems designed for the development’s infrastructure would reduce post development flows in accordance with state and local requirements.
"What are they doing for the environment after they’re done?" Kelly asked during the meeting. "Is there going to be a park?"
According to Eareckson, parks are not permitted under current zoning in that area.
"They’re talking about putting in a pump station (for use by trucks arriving and departing the warehouse distribution center)," Garner said.
Eareckson said that if Garner was referring to a gasoline station, none are permitted in that zone.
Garner also said that the state was not issuing new permits Leigh would need to use an approval granted last year by the Jackson Township Municipal Utilities Authority (JTMUA) for a water line hookup in the area.
"She’s misinformed," Eareckson said.
Kelly said that a condition of the board’s approval would be that hookup to the JTMUA be made before construction of Jackson Commons was to begin.
As a result of the environmental commission’s questions, Kelly said the zoning board’s meeting at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 would lead off with testimony on environmental issues, then continue with traffic issues. A traffic report will be submitted by an expert hired by the township.
Leigh’s traffic expert, Nicholas Bellizzi, an engineer with THP Inc., is expected to present a revised traffic report that the board requested. It will reflect the project’s impact using future traffic patterns in the area, rather than existing ones.
Eareckson said the revised report has already been submitted to the Jackson Department of Planning and Zoning.
Despite Shea’s insistence that maximum care would be taken to ensure that the project not only complied with the state’s environmental requirements, but exceeded them, the two panels agreed to contact the state Department of Environmental Protection to examine the project for compliance with state environmental regulations.
"There are so many layers to this project," Garner said. "We’re not only affecting the reservoir, we’re affecting Barnegat Bay."
The project sits on at least one tributary of the Metedeconk River, and the Metedeconk flows into Barnegat Bay.
"There are a lot of concerns," Borys said. "This is the largest project this town has ever seen."
"Maybe the largest project this town will ever see," Kelly added.
