Council Appoints Cooper Levenson For Environmental Issues

Cooper Levenson will represent Galloway Township in upcoming environmental legal issues involving discussions about and removing the municipal complex from the a list of properties protected by Open Space preservation.

Cooper Levenson, with an office in Atlantic City, is a full-service law firm with nearly 70 attorneys. 

The firm was selected by the council following a discussion and a vote Tuesday night.

The municipal complex was placed on a list to preserve open land inadvertently in 2001 because of the soccer fields on either side of the complex. It has tried since to be removed from the list, to no avail.

“The previous council had a vision for this whole complex to serve as a downtown area,” Deputy Mayor Don Purdy said. “It was inadvertently put on the Rossi List.”

The issue with Sewer Service Areas came to light more recently, but has long-lasting consequences. Sewer Service Areas are areas of land that are deemed eligible to have a sewer system running through it. The alternative to a normal sewer system is a septic system.

When amending the map for Wastewater Management Systems in the Galloway Township area of Atlantic County, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection removed the designations of certain areas previously deemed Sewer Service Areas. This makes desired development in the township difficult, and was the subject of public outcry earlier this year.

The major problem with the Wastewater Management System is that once the map is amended, it can be 10 years before it is amended again, which would substantially stifle any planned development.

“We need someone to take care of this before the maps go out,” Purdy said. “It’s a very important thing. I’m excited to see this move forward.”

With the issue concerning the municipal complex entering its 10th year of discussion, Councilman Dennis Kleiner wondered what difference having Cooper Levenson as an attorney would make.

“How is this attorney going to be any different than what we’ve had in the past?” Kleiner asked, adding he’d like to see Cooper Levenson get paid what the township pays Solicitor Michael Blee. “If things fall apart, I’d like to see our solicitor (Blee) handle it.”

“I think our solicitor should have a hand in it,” Purdy said. “They can work hand-in-hand.”

“I don’t want to see them work hand-in-hand; I want to see our solicitor handle it,” Kleiner said.

Kleiner voted in favor of appointing Cooper Levenson, as did the other members of the council, with the exceptions of Mayor Keith Hartman, who abstained, and Councilman Tom Bassford, who was absent.

“This council is proactive on economic development,” Purdy said. “Taxpayers paid for this property, and we should do with it what they want. If a private developer owned this property and wanted to do construction, they would be able to come in and do it, no problem.

“We were inadvertently put on this list, and we did not benefit from it. I think this is the time to get this taken care of.”