I serve on the Environmental Commission in town and after a long review of the context around the proposed West Essex Highlands proposed development, realized that the Planning Board is without the benefit of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection weighing in fully on the proposed project before deciding what the Board thinks is best for our town. That is a huge mistake!
If the Planning Board allows the special hearings to continue, and if it approves the proposal, then the developer may use the fact of that approval to tell the DEP, “see, the township of west orange agrees that alls well with us destroying nearly 6000 trees and building 500 apartments! Surely DEP does not disagree with the town where we plan to build?!?”
Continuing to hear this application is dangerous for our town and Planning Board should suspend the hearings now. They have a legitimate reason to - DEP is set to hear all about how the forest is a wetland and consider whether it should be protected.
Let’s not give this out of town developer more ammo to ram this environmental catastrophe through.
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