Local officials blast state DEP sewer regulation plans

Proposed rules would increase state control of municipal planning, By Kate Brex Netcong - Local elected officials claim the state is “doing it to us again,” adding insult to injury, by proposing waste water management amendments that would add further planning and development limitations on top of the already restrictive Highlands Act. The proposed state sewer regulations could put a halt to development in several Sussex County towns. At a joint press conference Nov. 28 at the Netcong Borough Hall, elected officials and county residents solidified their opposition to the state Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed waste water management amendments, which they say, could “devastate” the region. The waste water management regulations were to expire on Nov. 29, but in a letter dated Nov. 28, acting Gov. Richard J. Codey pushed the deadline forward to May 25, leaving some five ½ months for local officials to mount a campaign against the proposed amendments and enough time for Governor-elect Jon Corzine to get involved. The amendments, which were introduced in mid-October, could severely affect municipal planning, development, and affordable housing obligations, said officials. The amendments will apply retroactively to Oct. 15, but public comment is encouraged until Dec. 15. Local officials scrambling The proposed amendments and the recently enacted Highlands Act, signed into law by former Gov. James E. McGreevey in August 2004 and due to be finalized in June 2006, when a regional master plan will be submitted to the DEP for approval, have local officials scrambling for an answer. The news event was spearheaded by Sussex County Freeholder Susan Zellman and Morris County Freeholder Deputy Director Margaret Nordstrom. Zellman opened by saying that Sussex County Administrator John Eskilson told her earlier that day that the state is concerned with the apparent resistance by local officials to the proposed regulations. She said Eskilson received a letter from Lawrence Baier, director of the DEP Division of Wasteshed Management, which said, “It has come to my attention that there is confusion over the effect of some of the proposed amendments.” Elected officials claim that the state is subverting the rule-making process and bypassing the legislature for political reasons. State Sen. Anthony Bucco, a Morris County Republican, charged that the state’s “Democratic machine” is behind DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell’s fast-tracking the sewer rules, which, he maintained, would ultimately force developers and residents from the country back to the city. The proposed amendments would rescind sewer allocations for planning areas designated 3, 4, and 5, affecting proposed development in most of Morris County and parts of Sussex and Warren counties. Byram, Stanhope, and Hopatcong, included in the state environmental agency’s approved Sussex County sewer plan, could be in trouble if the state has its way, said Stanhope Mayor Diana Kuncken. The state wants the three southeastern towns in Sussex County to transfer its sewer allocations to the Musconetcong Utilities Authority, Kuncken said. The three towns are included in the Sussex County waste water management plan that was filed and approved by the state, she noted. But the state now wants them removed from the county’s plan and to “lump us” with Musconetcong. Kuncken said the Stanhope council objects to the proposed regulations as well as to the 60-day public comment time frame. Stanhope council resolution With sewers already installed in the community, the Stanhope council passed a resolution against the state’s intention to “re-designate certain wastewater service areas,” arguing that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been expended for future sewer allocations, as well as the assessment of homeowners’ properties already hooked into a utilities authority. Revoking Stanhope’s sewer allocation would “result in catastrophic economic damage to the borough,” the resolution said. Hundreds of municipalities are waiting for sewer approvals from the state environmental agency after submitting waste water management plans. The proposed amendments to the state’s sewer allocation rules would bar construction in areas that do not have an updated sewer plan or which have none at all. Of the 193 sewer service areas, 13, including Sussex County, have up-to-date sewer plans. The state claims that 63 utilities authorities have failed to submit a plan, while 117 have outdated waste water management plans. Lee T. Purcell, technical advisor to the Musconetcong Utilities Authority, said adoption of the sewer amendments would bring about a virtual moratorium on development, and called the regulations “mind boggling.” Steven Rattner, member of the Musconetcong Utilities Authority board and Mt. Olive councilman, railed against the rules, saying they arrived “covertly” just before the general election and during the annual League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City. “This is a dire situation,” said Rattner. “The publishing of these amendments was timed so the public would not know.” He called the Highlands Act “punitive,” but said the new sewer regulations would be catastrophic. Doug Zellman, Lake Musconetcong Regional Planning Board member and Freeholder Zellman’s husband, said, “We can’t see any planning coming from the DEP. We, as a regional planning commission, were never notified of the new rules. We are trying to keep Lake Musconetcong from dying.” Mandating septic systems for the region will only further the death of the waters the commission oversees, he alleged. Domino effect foreseen Officials believe the adoption of the amendments would be a regional disaster, having a domino effect that could cripple the economic development of the region and increase property taxes, slow commercial development, and stop towns from fulfilling their affordable housing obligations. The state has slated three public hearings to accept public comments on the proposals. Byram Township Manager Gregory Poff, testified at the first public hearing on Nov. 17, where Baier took comments from the public. “I assured the state that the Byram council opposes the rules as they stand and passed a resolution,” said Poff. “They believe it will have a catastrophic impact.” Mayor Richard Hodson said vagueness is a problem with the environmental agency and its dissemination of the new regulations. “You don’t know the outcome,” he said. “It is keeping us on edge.” Hodson said the state assured Hopatcong it was included in Sussex County’s strategic development plan and that the state would listen to the municipality, but, he said, “These proposed amendments fly in the face of that.”