is a concerned group of Holland Township, New Jersey residents interested in preserving the rural character and scenic beauty of the township. Parts of Holland Township lie on the ridge of Musconetcong Mountain--the southernmost rampart of the New Jersey Highlands. Inappropriate development threatens this environmentally-sensitive area by:
The Highlands Regional Master Plan (RMP) empowers Holland Township to control our future in a better way. The RMP requires Holland to adopt new zoning ordinances and make other changes that will protect our natural resources and put a brake on suburban sprawl in our township.
Conforming to the RMP will bring lots of changes – yet it will also bring less change. Holland will have to make significant changes to its Master Plan, land use regulations and other documents that control development. However, this will result in less change to the rural atmosphere that is one of the big reasons we love to live here.
Our farms will stop sprouting houses on 5-acre lots. Instead, farmland will have 10-acre zoning, and houses will be clustered on no more than 20% of the property, with the other 80% deed-restricted to continue agriculture. Our wooded hillsides will no longer be dotted with homes. In forested areas, there will be 30-acre zoning, and again the houses must be clustered on no more than 20% of the land, with the rest left in woodland.
The Highlands Council will provide model ordinances and Master Plan changes, and they have provided $50,000 in grant money that will pay for all the work to be done. The new laws will be granted the highest presumption of validity by the courts if developers challenge them.
In November 2008, the Holland Township Committee adopted a resolution expressing the intent for Holland to conform to the Highlands RMP in the entire township. This is not a binding resolution. During 2009, Holland officials must decide whether to pursue voluntary RMP Conformance in the Planning Area part of the municipality (about 87% of the township), or just conform in the Preservation Area (13% of the land) where conformance is mandatory.
Under a $17,000 grant from the Highlands Council, planner Caroline Armstrong of Group Melvin Design has prepared a report on exactly what Holland will need to do by December 2009 in order to achieve Basic Plan Conformance for the entire township. Her report gives an overview of what the Highlands RMP requires, presents where Holland is today, and lists what the township must do to come into conformance.
The report makes clear that by conforming to the RMP for the entire township, Holland will be able to use the lower growth figures that result from following the Highlands Council rules to derive a lower number of affordable housing obligations when it submits its Third Round affordable housing plan in December 2009.
In 79 pages of text, you’ll learn about a possible future for Holland Township that will preserve the natural beauty that surrounds us. The 23 maps of Holland at the back of the report illustrate all the concepts you’ll read about. After reading this report, you’ll know what Holland’s future can be – and you’ll be able to support our township leaders in making the right decision for the decades to come.
Friends of Holland Highlands is one of the many local, state and national environmental organizations that make up the New Jersey Highlands Coalition. The Coalition has produced a tri-fold brochure intended as a primer on what conforming to the Highlands RMP means for a community. Feel free to print out copies of this brochure to give to friends and neighbors.
When the Highlands Act was passed in 2004, the New Jersey Legislature divided the Highlands Region into the Preservation Area and the Planning Area. Only about 13% of Holland is in the Preservation Area, the land in the northeast corner of the township. Conforming to the Highlands Regional Master Plan is mandatory for land in the Preservation Area. Conforming to the Plan is voluntary for the rest of Holland, the land in the Planning Area. On this map prepared by the New Jersey Highlands Coalition, the green portion of Holland is in the Preservation Area.
The Plan Endorsement process is administered by the state’s Office of Smart Growth (OSG) and is intended to ensure that a municipality’s Master Plan and ordinances are consistent with the State Plan.
Back in the spring of 2006, Holland Township officials revealed their Petition for Plan Endorsement, developed with no participation by the town’s citizens. There followed several contentious and well-attended public meetings in 2006 during which Holland residents objected to the Petition’s proposal for a large Village Center that extended for more than a square mile. State rules call for a minimum of three dwelling units per acre in such a Center. As a result of citizen resistance, the size of the Center was cut to two smaller Hamlets.
Holland finally submitted its Petition for Plan Endorsement to OSG in December 2006, calling for the two smaller Hamlets. On July 19, 2007, the Petition was declared complete.
In October 2007, OSG wrote that the state had identified many areas of concern that need to be addressed before Holland’s Petition could be found consistent with the State Plan. OSG seems to be demanding that Holland bring back the plan for a large Village Center, writing, “The state is concerned that the centers, as currently defined as two separate hamlets, will not adequately accommodate or accept the growth potential of the environs as proposed in your Master Plan.” On the plus side, the letter said OSG wants Holland to adopt a larger-lot zoning ordinance as promised in the 2001 Master Plan, and adopt ordinances that protect scenic resources, critical habitat, historic sites and districts, groundwater supply and public wellheads.
That October letter said that Holland could gain time to do all these things by adopting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would commit the township to an Action Plan with deadlines for completing each task. Eight months later, the June 2008 drafts of an MOU and Action Plan were sent by OSG. Originally, Holland officials were told they had to decide whether to adopt the MOU and agree to the Action Plan by August 9, 2008. OSG has since extended that deadline by 90 days.
The most recent versions of all the relevant new documents are posted below and can be downloaded by clicking the headline for each item. Materials from the first go-round on Plan Endorsement in 2006 are still posted further down on this web site, including maps of the original Village Center and the two Hamlets, the state guidelines for the various types of Centers, and other useful documents and links.
The October 2007 letter and the draft Action Plan proposed a meeting here in Holland at which OSG would explain what designated Centers are and why they feel Holland needs one. That meeting was held on September 23, 2008.
All the documents from the state are posted below. The most important is the Action Plan, which lists the concrete steps that Holland must take to achieve Plan Endorsement. The deadlines will obviously be extended now that OSG has granted a 90 day extension for Holland’s decision. The second most important document is the Planning and Implementation Agreement that lists the things Holland must do after achieving Endorsement.
The head of the state Office of Smart Growth (OSG) tells Holland officials their Petition for Plan Endorsement is “not consistent” with the State Plan. The state says the two proposed smaller Hamlets won’t accommodate future growth and writes, “There needs to be a reexamination and modification of the center boundaries prior to endorsement.” On the positive side, the letter says that the nice words in Holland’s Master Plan must be converted from mere rhetoric to actual laws. OSG calls for many new ordinances that will protect the environment. Strangely, some of the positive things called for in this letter don’t show up in the Action Plan. Click here on the headline above to read the letter.
OSG Executive Director Benjamin Spinelli tells Holland officials that to continue on the path toward Plan Endorsement, they have to adopt a resolution committing to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) obligating the township to the items and deadlines in the Action Plan. At the bottom of page 1, the letter makes clear what is most important to the state: “The critical Action Plan item is the Center boundary or boundaries.”
If Holland officials wish to continue to pursue Plan Endorsement, the Township Committee is required to pass a resolution adopting this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that commits the township to the actions and deadlines set forth in the Action Plan. Note that the MOU also makes clear that the Highlands Council will be involved in approving any proposed Center and making a recommendation on endorsement of Holland’s Petition.
This is the key document that lists actions to be taken, with everything to be completed by March 2009. Note, however, the asterisk on the deadline column that says at the bottom, “The above deadlines are subject to negotiation.” The first two boxes involve coming up with estimates of the growth that must be accommodated in Holland, working with the new Highlands rules. Box A3 says the “educational” meeting to help us understand Centers must be held by August 14, 2008, but that deadline is likely to slip. Boxes A4 through A7 set a deadline of December 11, 2008 for coming up with the details for the new Center, and box C1 indicates the sewer area could be expanded to encompass more land in the Center. Box C2 sets a January 11, 2009 deadline for adopting the new Conservation Agriculture Zone, where an early draft mandated 15-acre zoning in what is now the R-5 zone. Note that box E2 has the only mention of public participation in deciding where the Center goes, and it’s left vague, with no mandated standards.
Several items called for in OSG’s October 2007 letter do not appear in the Action Plan or the Planning and Implementation Agreement (immediately below) that lists things to be done after endorsement is granted by OSG. The letter called for an ordinance to protect scenic resources, but that’s missing from both lists. The letter wanted a Wellhead Protection Ordinance to safeguard the public drinking water wells owned by Aqua New Jersey that serve hundreds of residents and the Holland School. Not on either list. The letter called for “the specific development regulations, zoning and other ordinances, plans or protections adopted that provide protection to the three Natural Heritage Priority Sites and multiple vernal pools identified in the Township, threatened plant species and ecological communities.” Nowhere to be found.
The PIA lists all the things that Holland must do after it has achieved Plan Endorsement. Many items that OSG claimed were necessary in their October 2007 letter are now put off for two years or more after Holland gets Endorsement. A Habitat Conservation program and adding a Historic Preservation Plan Element to our Master Plan don’t have to be done until two years after Endorsement. Stream corridor protection and a Water Conservation plan can also wait two years after Endorsement. In the October letter, all of these items seemed to be required in order to demonstrate consistency with the State Plan, but now Plan Endorsement can be achieved before any of these are done. It appears that the state backed off on their requirements following negotiations with the township’s planner and officials.
After the October 4, 2007 letter saying Holland’s Petition was not consistent with the State Plan was posted on the OSG web site, our group wrote to the head of OSG to offer our comments. Most of the letter is devoted to the details of how Holland ignored the Plan Endorsement rules that emphasize public involvement in developing the Petition, and then made only the most minimal efforts to publicize the required hearings once the Petition was drafted. The state has ignored these comments, because the only mention of public participation in the Action Plan is in box E2 on page 5: “The Township shall provide detail of public participation for the various action items.” That’s simply not specific enough for Holland officials who have already demonstrated they are willing to ignore the state Guidelines that proclaim, “Involving the public in every step of the Plan Endorsement process is critical.”
On the positive side, the last section of our group’s letter pointed out that OSG’s October 4, 2007 letter never mentioned the need for Holland’s Petition to show how the township is consistent with the Highlands Council’s Regional Master Plan. The new Action Plan carves out a role for the Highlands Council to participate in the determination of how much growth must be accommodated in Holland, in the designation of new Center boundaries, and in making a recommendation on whether the Petition should be endorsed.
OSG is required to consult other state agencies on whether they view Holland’s Petition for Plan Endorsement as consistent. The Highlands Council said Holland should be required to show how its Petition is consistent with the Highlands Regional Master Plan. The Council objected to the proposed Hamlets, not because they are not big enough as OSG asserts, but because they “do not connect development with existing infrastructure.” The Highlands Council did not want to see water and sewer extended to the planned Hamlets. They also said the proposed Hamlets conflict with protection of C-1 stream corridors and should not be allowed in what the Council has mapped as the Conservation Zone. Obviously, the Highlands Council has a different view than OSG, so that’s why it’s positive that the Action Plan requires that the Council be involved with growth projections and the location of a Center.
Following up on the April 23 public hearing, our local citizens group criticizes a plan to extend sewer service to the Huntington Knolls development because the Highlands Coalition has recommended a denial based on a host of environmental problems. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is faulted for backing off their original judgment that critical habitat for threatened species should prevent an extension of sewer lines to the proposed Galloway Farm project. And we attack the confusion around the proposal to “mitigate” environmental damage through the adoption of new township ordinances. Click here to read the complete letter.
The Highlands Coalition, a non-profit organization composed of national, statewide and local environmental groups, points out that the state has turned down the center designations for Huntington Knolls and Galloway Farms proposed in Holland’s petition for Plan Endorsement, so sewer service should not be extended to those proposed developments. The Coalition also urges the DEP to wait for the new rules from the Council on Affordable Housing and the Highlands Council’s final Regional Master Plan, to be adopted in July 2008, before making a decision on Holland’s WMP. Click here to read the complete letter.
In a March 25, 2008 letter to developer Vincent Jiovino, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection says they won’t rule on the site-specific application for Huntington Knolls. Instead, it will be considered as part of the plan for all of Holland Township. The DEP says they agree with the Highlands Council’s recommendation to deny the sewer extension, but they are already looking for ways to sidestep the problems the Council identified. For example, they suggest getting around the need to preserve 80% of this land in the Conservation Zone by an unproven “mitigation” scheme with “additional protection measures in other parts of Holland Township.” Click here to read the letter.
The final draft of the Highlands Council’s Regional Master Plan, issued in November 2007, divides the Highlands Region into different Zones where different rules apply. You can zoom in on the maps below and see what Zone your lot is in. Just click on the “Zoom In Tool” in the Adobe Reader (the one that looks like a magnifying glass with a plus sign), then click repeatedly on your property to enlarge it.
The map files are medium size files (around 500 kilobytes) so can be downloaded even over dial-up Internet access. If you want to reference them again, click “Save a Copy” on the upper left of the Adobe Reader and put a copy on your hard drive.
The Legend in the lower left of the map explains the meaning of the different colors. Also linked below is a brief explanation of the standards and rules for each Zone pulled from the Regional Master Plan.
Click here for the detailed map of Holland Township South, from the Delaware River up to Gridley Circle off Route 519.
Click here for the detailed map of Holland Township North, from Gridley Circle to the Warren County border.
Click here for the Highlands Council’s definitions of the Zones shown on the maps.
Click here to download the complete Highlands Regional Master Plan. (This is a more than 30 megabyte PDF file, so if you have dial-up access, it will require lots of time and patience.)
This December 2, 2007 report analyzes why the proposed Huntington Knolls development in Holland Township is not consistent with the standards in the draft Highlands Regional Master Plan. The staff experts found numerous sensitive environmental resources on the property including steep slopes, Highlands Open Waters Protection Areas, Riparian Areas, Critical Habitat for the state-threatened Cooper’s Hawk, forests, Prime Ground Water Recharge Areas, Wellhead Protection Areas, and Agricultural Resources. They recommend that sewer facilities should only be extended to the 20% of the property where a cluster development would be allowed, and that 80% of the property should be preserved as agricultural or natural resources. Click here to read the report.
On January 12, 2008, the staff produced a short second report after Huntington Knolls developer Vincent Jiovino said that he “would be submitting documentation to rebut the Highlands Staff Recommendation. The applicant submitted a hard copy site plan on January 8, 2008, with no further information.” After seeing the actual plans for the first time, the staff concluded that Huntington Knolls would infringe on the 300-foot buffer of a C-1 trout steam, on portions of steep slopes, and on portions of critical wildlife habitat for Cooper’s Hawk. The project also has only 36.4% open space instead of the 80% required. They conclude, “As a result of the review of the site plan, the Highlands Council Staff reaffirms its recommendation from December that NJDEP deny the proposed amendment.” Click here to read the report. here.
On November 7, 2007, the Holland Township Committee adopted a new VR-A zoning district that will be applied first to the proposed Galloway Farm development. The ordinance allows the Galloway property to be combined with the Purcell property across Route 519 to calculate density. Essentially, it derives density form the Purcell lot, which is unbuildable because it lies entirely within the 300-foot buffers on either side of a protected C-1 stream. This ordinance can be amended in the future to allow 1.05 units per acre on other lots in Holland, with the requirement that they would need to be served by public sewer and water. Several members of the public pointed out serious errors of fact in the draft ordinance, but the Committee adopted it despite these flaws, promising to correct it later. Read the adopted ordinance.
The Township Committee asked members of the public who pointed out flaws in the VR-A District ordinance to summarize their comments in letters, promising that the ordinance will be corrected in the future. In his comments, Friends of Holland Highlands president Michael Keady points out that the ordinance has the wrong number of acres for the Galloway Farm property, falsely says that the proposed Hamlets are served today by actual water and sewer infrastructure, and paints a deceptive picture of Common Open Space for recreation and gardening that will be impossible to achieve. Read Michael Keady's letter.
Ken Grisewood contends that the ordinance will allow 16 units at Galloway Farm not the 6 affordables, 6 age-restricted and 2 units in the existing farmhouse that have been represented to the public. He also says there are no controls on items such as set-backs from adjacent properties and building heights. Read Ken Grisewood's letter.
The NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wrote a May 29 letter commenting on Holland’s application for a Wastewater Management Plan. The letter requires Holland to adopt five environmental ordinances. On page 3, the DEP finds that Galloway Farm does contain critical habitat for wood turtles, and then proposes a mitigation plan to compensate for the loss of habitat if a sewer extension is allowed, which would permit building 12 apartments on the property. Click here to read the 5-page letter.
Holland’s planner submitted comments on the Highlands Council’s Regional Master Plan that were never discussed before the public. Holland officials seemed taken aback when the Council posted the comment letter on their Web site. Among other things, the letter asks for land owned by the Holland School and a resident to be reclassified from the Conservation Zone to the Planned Community Zone, where growth and high-density development are encouraged. No one has explained why this is a good idea. Read the letter for yourself.
At their February 13th meeting, the Council on Affordable Housing made their “decision” on the Huntington Knolls Motion for Relief. They denied the Motion, without prejudice, subject to the DEP decision on the sewer extension to the development. In essence, COAH wants to wait to see if the DEP follows the Highlands Council’s recommendation to deny the sewer extension, in which case this whole matter will go away. If DEP doesn’t deny the sewer permit, then Mr. Jiovino can refile because the Motion was denied “without prejudice.”
On July 11, 2007 the developer of the proposed Huntington Knolls apartments filed a motion with the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) claiming that he has been damaged by Holland’s actions and asking for relief. He wants COAH to order the removal of Galloway Farm from Holland’s Wastewater Management Plan. He also wants to remove the requirement to build age-restricted apartments. Plus even more. Click here to read the motion.
In response to the Huntington Knolls Motion, Holland Township argues that COAH isn’t authorized to grant the requested relief and points out that Huntington Knolls contains only a small amount of COAH housing. Holland contends that any delays were not the fault of the Township but due to the developer’s failures and constant changes to plans. Read the reply.
Holland Township officials are petitioning the state’s Office of Smart Growth, asking them to endorse that Holland’s Master Plan is in conformance with the State Plan. As part of their petition, Holland officials have asked the state for a “designated center” in our township.
The state’s guidelines for getting Plan Endorsement proclaim, “Involving the public in every step of the Plan Endorsement process is critical.” The state recommends forming a committee with broad representation of people across the community. Despite this clear language, our township leaders decided not to form this committee, and their entire effort to involve the public consisted of a tiny legal notice in the local newspaper back in February. Despite this virtual secrecy, when citizens were informed by their neighbors about what was going on, they turned out in force for three meetings this year.
The materials below include the latest draft of the township’s Petition, maps of the original and modified designated centers, as well as a wealth of background resource material.
NOTE: Click on the colored headline to download the documents that follow. Most of the linked files are in
Adobe PDF format. If you don’t have the latest version of the Adobe Reader, you can download it for free from
the Adobe Website.
Township Planner Betsy McKenzie has prepared a new draft of the Petition. If you haven’t read the earlier drafts, I encourage you to read what is likely to be the near-final version. It’s only 20 pages and not terribly difficult reading.
This new draft recommends the two smaller Hamlets that the planning board endorsed after hearing copious public objections to their original proposal. The initial plan called for a Village Center that included about a square mile along Route 519. This would have put about 640 acres into a center where state guidelines call for a minimum of three dwelling units per acre. Facing public outrage, officials have now proposed two smaller Hamlets that contain 126 acres. Because the public got involved, Holland officials have reduced the size of the designated center by more than 80%.
There’s much more to the Petition than the designated center issue. It calls for many admirable changes, such as a move to larger-lot zoning. However, Holland’s Master Plan has called for 10-acre zoning for more than five years, and nothing ever happens. Officials need to hear public support for moving with urgency to make the good promises in this document into actual ordinances.
Much of this new August draft is unchanged from the last draft in May. Most of the changes simply substitute “Hamlet” for “Village Center.” If you’ve already read earlier drafts, look at these major changes:
Only the South Hamlet is required by the state, which says that to extend sewer service to Mr. Jiovino’s proposed Huntington Knolls development, the property must be part of a designated center. The strange shape of the North Hamlet is dictated by the desire to incorporate the Galloway Farm property on the northeast corner of Routes 519 and 614 and the unbuildable property across the street that will provide water rights for a high-density development on the Galloway property.
A side-by-side comparison of the original 640-acre proposal for an enormous Village Center and the new proposal for two Hamlets.
This document is basically a timeline for when the various promises made in Holland’s Master Plan and in the Petition for Plan Endorsement must actually be accomplished. It will be submitted to the state along with the Petition.
From the Appendix to the Petition, a map of Holland Township showing the area that currently has sewer service.
From the Appendix to the Petition, tables show Holland housing types, age, values and ownership. Population growth for Holland and Hunterdon County. Age distribution for Holland, plus household size and income. Low and moderate income limits qualifying for COAH (Council on Affordable Housing). Employment characteristics for Holland and Hunterdon County.
Another overflow crowd attended the meeting of the subcommittee that will make recommendations to the Holland planning board. Representatives from two state agencies and Holland's planner answered questions. The subcommittee seemed ready to shrink somewhat the size of the proposed Village Center, we heard that a smaller Hamlet including just Huntington Knolls would satisfy state requirements, and everyone learned what NIMBY means. Click the link above to read our full report on the highlights and what happens next.
The Petition says Holland will pursue either a Village Center or Hamlet designation. Scroll down past the information for Urban Centers, Regional Centers, and Towns. Note that the criteria for Village Centers say, "It has a land area of less than one square mile" and "It has (or is planned for) a minimum gross population density of 5,000 people per square mile (excluding water bodies) and a minimum gross housing density of three dwelling units per acre" (yet, Holland says it wants to keep the current one-acre zoning in most of the proposed Village Center). And among the criteria for a Hamlet, it says, "It has an area that encompasses, generally, 10 to 50 acres, unless wastewater systems are not reasonably feasible, in which case the boundary may encompass as much as 100 acres" (there are 640 acres in a square mile).
The official 54-page guidelines from the state's Office of Smart Growth, published April 28, 2004.
Our selected excerpts from the 54-page guidelines. The parts we thought were most interesting, and only four pages. Hey, it worked in college.
Why is Holland seeking a designated center? The township’s Petition for Plan Endorsement says COAH requires it. We’ve obtained the report issued by COAH when Holland received certification for its affordable housing plan in late 2004. Pages 8-10 state that the requirement is only that the Jiovino Huntington Knolls development be designated as a center or put into PA-2. It appears that Holland officials have chosen to enlarge the center from the required 87 acres of Huntington Knolls to the much larger Village Center being proposed.
The County has a helpful Web site about Plan Endorsement. We’ve converted their Microsoft Word document “Questions and Answers about Centers” to an Adobe PDF file. Note the Pros and Cons on page 2, where they point out that the permit-streamlining that accompanies center designation could apply to “projects that may not be desirable locally.”
From the same County Web site. Because Microsoft Word is expensive and everyone doesn’t have it, we’ve again converted the Word file to PDF.
COAH plays a major role in both the motivation and content of Holland’s Petition for Plan Endorsement. The Petition says that COAH requires us to achieve Plan Endorsement by December 2006. The Petition also says we need a Village Center to accommodate growth, including affordable housing. The COAH Web site has interesting information such as income and asset limitations to qualify for affordable housing.
Holland’s Petition for Plan Endorsement says that the Highlands Council will take over responsibility for Plan Endorsement once the Council has completed its Regional Master Plan in June. Their Web site gives an update on the promised Plan, background on the Highlands Act, maps and other useful information.
Several letters to the editor published in local newspapers give an overview of the issues associated with Holland’s Petition for Plan Endorsement and explain the details on the Village Center concept that has caused so much concern among Holland residents.
An outside consultant has recently completed a draft of a Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) for Holland Township. Our Holland Township Environmental Commission is currently reviewing the NRI and has asked for residents to submit any needed corrections they may spot. This is a really large document, running to 191 pages, and includes a multitude of color maps of soil types, steep slopes, land uses, and so forth.
If you have broadband Internet service, you can go to the Hunterdon County web site to download the draft NRI by clicking here. They have broken the file into several smaller parts. However, if you’re on dial-up, this 58 megabyte file will take an eternity to load. In that case, you can borrow a CD-ROM of the NRI from the Holland-Alexandria Free Public Library. Simply copy the Adobe PDF document from your D drive to your C drive, and you’ll have the document. Return the CD-ROM to the library ASAP so someone else can borrow it.
If you spot items that need to be corrected, you can submit changes to the Holland Township Environmental Commission.