Revolting Developments

This week's Planning Board meeting brought back memories of the decade old battles over two ambitious developments at the end of Liongate Drive. Local residents won their initial year long battles to stop both projects. But they lost later battles when modified projects were resubmitted to a modified Planning Board.

The "War" was ultimately won by the housing market. Homebuyers would not pay the 500k+ that was needed to make the project work. The developer for the larger Scientific Glass site claimed that he had remediated the cleared soil to the point where it could be safely eaten by a school age child. The NJ DEP disagreed and ordered that the mountains of top soil be covered with tarps. The smaller development(lower 3 photos), originally owned by the Copeck family, was tentatively approved for purchase by the township for use as a "passive park."