UPDATE - There has been crucial information added in the comment section that Mullica residents should read.
A vote for a $60,000 Pinelands Infrastructure Grant WAS voted on by the Committee at the July 23, 2013 meeting and posted on The Gadfly.
http://gadfly01.blogspot.com/2013/08/pinelands-infrastructure-grant.html
Voice of the People, Jan. 8, 2014
Posted: Wednesday, January 8, 2014 12:01 am
People of Mullicadon't want sewers
Most people living in our Pinelands villages - such as Elwood, where I live - are pretty much satisfied with our rural lifestyle. What permits these small communities to exist are Pinelands building restrictions that require large lots to protect our water source from becoming polluted. Sewers would remove the need for those open spaces and result in dense development, with associated taxes and fees to build, install and maintain the resulting infrastructure.
But builders, with the help of accommodating local public officials, are now trying to force their unwanted development objectives on Mullica's inhabitants by bringing in sewers anyway.
Mullica's mayor says he want to help out Wharton Park's private house sellers avoid the cost of septic upgrades, that the schools' sewage treatment system has problems and that sewers would not only solve these issues but, as a side benefit, would also entice new businesses to move to Elwood.
Based on these circumstances, the township requested $100,000 from the Pinelands Commission to do a feasibility study on building a sewage-treatment plant in Elwood. But they are creating problems where none exist to get their way.
First, most Wharton Park homeowners have maintained their private septic systems over the years and none have failed inspection due to fecal matter in recent years. Second, there is no problem with the schools' oversized water treatment facility. Third, there is not enough population in Mullica to support retail business growth in Elwood Village.
The apartments and townhouses that sewers inevitably will bring would overburden our school district, increase the demand for more municipal employees and police officers, cause property taxes to escalate and forever change the essence of our rural community. Those current residents living within the sewer grid would also be unnecessarily required to hook up to sewer and water and pay quarterly sewerage and water fees.
It's time for our government to start listening to the people who live here.
BERNARD GRAEBENER
Elwood
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/letters/voice-of-the-people-jan/article_55506f1a-c1d7-5516-b1d3-7623fff32156.html
Related Article
http://gadfly01.blogspot.com/2013/12/elwood-sewer-plant-study.html
UPDATE 1/9/14- A LINK HAS BEEN SENT IN ABOUT THE BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP SEWAGE PLANS AND HOW THE PUBLIC WAS LIED TO AND KEPT IN THE DARK.
http://www.bvtfacts.com/sewer-in-richland-village.html
42 comments:
Mark my words, all this sewer business and rezoning of Elwood village by Brown has to do with the old Devonshire Inn property on the Pike.
How bout they build the sewer plant out in Weekstown by Browns house
Quack! Quack! Quack!
That's Brown's ducks that he put in a row over the last few years.
He'll be walking them down the Pike soon.
They look like Chasey,Forman and the County's ducks to me. Brown is just fattening them up.
Everybody ready for "NO SEWER" signs?
How about a petition to the pinelands commission to let them know that the residents in Mullica do not want sewage and they should put their $100,000 study into some other town.
4:03 pm They voted to put sewers only in Elwood. They don't want them in their neighborhoods. All the taxpayers would end up paying millions so a few properties on the Pike could be developed for guess who.
They're saying the Wharton Park septics are falling apart. This letter says there's no problem.Does anyone know if the majority of homes in Wharton Park are owner occupied or rented?I'd hate to think that we might all end up paying millions for a sewage treatment plant just so some "landlord" can sell his properties for a big profit.
Do Wharton Park lot sizes meet current Pinelands standards for septic systems or were they grandfathered in when the Pinelands came into being in the 1970's?
All houses built on undersized lots throughout Mullica can get a township waiver from having to replace their current pre-pinelands septic systems when the houses are sold if there is not enough property to install one to meet the new standards and if the existing septic system is non-polluting. This waiver applies to all homes sold, including those houses in Wharton Park.
Ironically, the new construction that sewers would allow would either be non-profit or they would have a five-year tax abatement, which means that Mullica's taxpayers would foot the bill.
To 8:50 pm
What if the septic systems on the small lots are polluting? Is there a way to repair such a small system?
Mullica is a very special place in the Pine Barrens. In the future the property will be worth a lot of money because people will want to escape development. The Committee should try to preserve the rural nature,not push development that the majority do not want and definitely do not want to pay for.
Don't these people have to discuss asking for a feasibility study at the meetings?? Did I miss that on an agenda somewhere?? What else are they doing in secret??
10:12 and 11:07pm posters:
Existing septic systems can be made functional again. This might involve pumping out the septic tank on some regular basis and sometimes replacing the drainage field, which normally have a 10-30 year lifespan. Typically, it is the responsibility of the home seller to pay for these repairs so they can pass county inspection at the time the house is sold. It only becomes a county health issue if there is are multiple failures of the systems throughout a community and this has not happened in Wharton Park.
The decision to ask for money to do an engineering study was done without any open committee discussion or approval.
Mr. Graebener makes a pretty informed case here and brings this issue to the light of day. Lets hope Mr Brown states his case openly at a public meeting or writes a reply to the Press.The public and the residents deserve to know if Mr Graebener is correct.
What is very disturbing about this is that there already have been previous proposals for a residential drug treatment facility for offenders and a low-income housing project, both on the Pike in Elwood. A sewer treatment plant next to them will facilitate them going through, with the rest of us paying for it, through increased taxes and the decline of our community.
This is a huge boon for property owners on the pike, however, who wants to pay water and sewer bills?
RE: 12:33 PM post
Most property owners within the proposed sewer area would not be able to sell their vacant land for new construction since the package treatment plant at most would be limited to handling 100,000 gallons a day and there are likely developers, with their plans ready, waiting to submit their building applications once the sewers are approved. Anyone else who decides to build later would be turned down because the plant would already at its projected maximum sewerage capacity. This is what happened in Hammonton and they eventually had to build a larger sewerage plant.
Besides the Devonshire Inn property, and all the newly added property that Brown added by rezoning the Village, I am worried about the 43 acres on the Pike listed by Joe Wiessner Realty.
He's advertizing that it's rare and favorable pinelands town zoning that allows uses on 1 acre parcels for residential, multifamily, duplexes, commercial or factories.
I can't imagine how high our taxes would go if a 43 acre multifamily development was built there. Our school would implode.
It would be very expensive for the developer to build a community sewage treatment plant but if a sewage plant and lines were paid for by us for millions of taxpayer dollars on the Pike, a developer could hook right in without the expense.
The idea of sewers and a treatment plant is NOT for the benefit of Mullica. It is for the benefit of money making developers, land owners and people who want to throw their unwanted rehabs or other projects our way at our expense. Our elected officials are NOT working for us and I,for one,wonder why.
So many post election surprises. We have a tax increase, a reval coming up, a low surplus, and now sewer plant being actively pursued by a few members of committee w/o first bringing it out into the public to explain all this. Why didn't the Dem candidates bring these issues out? Any political group in power that has many voters vote for them simply by word of mouth reference,folks not attending public meetings and not having any Gadfly to investigate and challenge our elected officials is creating the environment for them to do whatever they intend to do. Brown is now in for another 3 years and certainly has the time to carry his plans through. Some towns have active taxpayer advocate watchdog groups which may be needed here again instead of only a few folks as Mr Graebener.
4:06pm, you mentioned Hammonton. They are spending multi-millions on all the problems they are having with their systems and wells.
Besides the millions to build a plant and add sewage and water lines,we would have the multimillion expense of maintenance and fixing all contamination problems for eternity.
I'm ready for a sign in my yard! This whole scheme is ridiculous.
To 11:07 & 7:42pm
"The decision to ask for money to do an engineering study was done without any open committee discussion or approval"
That really,really bothers me. All committee members,including the mayor, are supposed to be equal in authority. Not only are things being done behind our backs but a vote is being denied to our elected officials.
Was this feasibility study request for $100,000 even legal if a vote was not taken?
RE: Joe Wiessner Realty -Development on this scale could easily meet the effluence capacity of the proposed package sewerage plant. With sewers, there would be no wetlands restrictions. Chances are that this type of development would have a five-year tax abatement so Mullica's other property owners would have to pay the tax bill for the new residents. One has to wonder if the re-val that the mayor is promoting is a way to hide this expected tax increase. After all, his property taxes are already frozen as a senior citizen so we would have to pick up his normal tax increase too.
5:48pm post. You might want to ask Mullica's two elected Democratic committee persons if they are OK with their being left out of the decision making process and, if not, what they doing about it. Being excluded is illegal. It seems that the mayor is making the decisions for the entire committee by himself. And, although $100,000 is being called a grant, it might actually be a loan that Mullica's taxpayers would have to pay back.
From the introduction of the official February, 2000 Pinelands study on the suitability of installing sewers on Mullica's Route 30:
"Why does Mullica Township want economic development along
the Route 30 Corridor?
First,it must be acknowledged that
there is no community consensus
in Mullica concerning the need
and/or extent for economic development in this area. ...
[Some]feel that the amount and type
of development in the community
today are adequate, and that the traffic and environmental
disturbances that might result
from additional development do not
justify placing more emphasis on
this issue."
Hopefully Jim Brown will read all these posts and the valid questions and points they present and try to reach out before the cry of "recall" is heard in the community.
re 5:02pm
You're right. a watch dog group is needed. Maybe it would give some courage to the two sitting Dems who seldom object to anything or maybe they should just change their party and be honest about their affiliation
I guess all the Wharton Park residents can thank Jim Brown for publicly and substantially reducing their property values even if their septic systems are in perfect condition.
Wharton Park is just a lowly pawn for the players in this money game.
6:41PM
Your post made me reread all the articles. They do not indicate if the $100,000 is a grant or a loan.
It upsets me that all that Pinelands money could be wasted on this study.
It infuriates me to think that Brown might make Mullica taxpayers responsible to repay it.
If the request was illegal, it should not even be considered for review.
Gadfly is keeping us informed of all these matters which sheds light on the mushroom patch of Mullica residents. Being kept in the dark and fed manure by the Brown administration. How about getting meetings televised ?
It looks like the "mushroom patch" has been enlarged to include our very own committee people. I don't understand how one head-strong man can make make town changing decisions on his own and in secret. This is so wrong and frightening.
This whole incident has to show everybody that there's a whole lot of secret talking being done behind the scenes. Something that is kept secret from the community is not good for the community. Secrets give people time to get their plans and deals in place before opposition can get organized. Our officials knew about the trash transfer station plans for weeks and never said a word until Angel alerted the community.
Brown said in the Press that he is concerned that opposition from environmentalists might create unnecessary fear in residents. It's my opinion that is complete BS.
The study was requested in secret because Brown knows the people do not want sewage,do not want development,do not want higher taxes,do not want water and sewer bills. He's the one afraid of opposition from the residents and he would like to carry on his plans without interference from pesky peons.
Has anyone an idea as to where the treatment plant that I assume is planned to be located?
It seems to me that this will only be presented in a Mullica government meeting when all the ducks are in order since by his actions and refusal to deal with the public Brown isn't going to make any public presentation. Seems he's only in it for his ego and power and doesnt have the time or compassion for the public. We need to know where the proposed site is. Previous posts are correct about how this is very much like the proposed dump a few years ago.
8:02AM poster
The proposed site is the same as where rail trash transfer station would have went,near the corner of Elwood Road and Route 30, on the White Horse Pike. The requested $100,000 would be for the engineering study to qualify the suitability of that parcel of land to support a sewage plant there.
OMG! No wonder Brown was concerned about environmentalists! That property is totally contaminated. Does he want to dig wells there to supply Elwood's drinking water,too? The Officials spent over $20,000 of OUR money for Waszen to put 120 row houses there years ago. Now $100,000 that we don't know if we will have to pay back? There's a really bad smell coming from Town Hall and it's not their septic system.
Thanks to the 8:02am for the info that should concern residents for the reason this thing is already planned out and seems to bring up some bad memories. Is this Brown connected to the other group that was involved with the Waszen stuff a few years ago? If so this gets more sinister as it surfaces. No wonder why he didnt present all this to the public. Whoever now owns the site will probably get a nice price from the township now that they desire the site.
To set the record straight, a vote for a $60,000 Pinelands Infrastructure Grant was taken at the July 23,2013 Committee Meeting and posted on The Gadfly.
http://gadfly01.blogspot.com/2013/08/pinelands-infrastructure-grant.html
to 6:11 pm
I heard that the Township took that property over because of tax liens. Now that could just be a rumor, I'm not positive.
REGULAR MEETING JULY 23, 2013
Pinelands Infrastructure Grant Update:
Mayor Brown gave the following overview regarding this Grant
Opportunity: The Township is pursuing a $60,000 grant from the Pinelands Commission for a pre-engineering
study to find solutions to existing septic systems problems in the Elwood Village Section of the Township,
specifically Wharton Park. Wharton Park homes were constructed in the 1960’s and many have cesspools, in this
160 home development, which are beginning to fail. Due to new legislation a health department inspection is
required when there is a real estate transaction, which will cause the cesspool to become abandoned and replaced
with a conforming septic system, which could cost up to $15,000.00. Two meetings were held with representatives
from the municipality and the Pinelands Commission to discuss solutions to address these aging septic systems, as
well as, the environmental issues. The possibilities that were discussed were: 1. Low costs loans being funded by
the NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust fund to finance septic replacements (Officials expressed concern with the
ability to pay back the loan due to the cost of the systems); 2. Constructing a wastewater conveyance infrastructure
to connect to Hammonton Sewage Treatment Plant (this solution was ruled out due to Hammonton’s difficulty with
properly disposing of its existing sewage flows); 3. Construct a decentralized wastewater treatment system; this
would best address public health, environmental protection and economic issues. The third option could also assist
the school with their wastewater plant (which they showed an interest), as well as, providing sewerage treatment
along the White Horse Pike. Discussions included contacting the Atlantic County Utilities Authority regarding this
type of system and utilizing their expertise, which the ACUA has offered assistance. The Executive Director of the
Pinelands has briefly introduced this to the Pinelands Commission and the scope of work, a draft resolution and
memorandum of understanding will be presented to the Pinelands Policy & Implementation Committee at their
August meeting, and will be attended by Mayor Brown to address the Committee.
Mr. Gabris stated he was glad to see this type of project in the works, adding it is much needed. Mr. Hagaman
thanked Mayor Brown for his involvement and informing the Governing Body of the progress. Mayor Brown
entertained a motion to continue moving forward with this project; so moved by Mr. Riffle seconded by Mr. Gabris.
RCV: Yeas: Mr. Gabris, Mr. Hagaman, Mr. Rheault, Mr. Riffle, Mayor Brown. Mayor Brown opened this to the
public to address any questions.
The application to the Pinelands is for $100,000 and the stated property being considered in the former Waszen dump site.
7:02 pm: The township took over 10 acres of the property due to non-payment of taxes and the other ten acres was purchased by a private individual.
A "private individual". OK. Maybe we should all play connect the dots along the sewer lines to see who are the winners of the big profit game being played at the taxpayers expense.
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