Community Corner
Court Backs 200-Unit Oakland Housing Project
The Sierra Club and Highlands Coalition challenged the issuance of a wetlands permit for the 200-home project, which borders Wayne.
OAKLAND, NJ — The Superior Court Appellate Division upheld a settlement agreement between the state and a developer that will permit a 200-unit housing project to be built in the borough.
The Superior Court Appellate Division sided with Bi-County Developers and its plan to construct a 204-unit development on High Mountain, which is located in the Highlands. A three-judge panel ruled that the state Department of Environmental Protection complied with laws and regulations when it issued a wetlands permit to Bi-County.
The development will be built on an 85-acre property, which borders Wayne, that the Barred Owl, a threatened species, lives on. Bi-County has said that the owls can still use the property as a corridor. If built, the development would use Wayne sewer infrastructure.
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Litigation in the matter dates back to 1987 when Bi-County filed a lawsuit against Oakland and its Planning Board regarding the construction of 700 residential units on the property. Bi-County contracted to sell the property to Pinnacle Communities, which applied to construct a 313-unit facility, but a transition permit from the state was necessary because of the wetlands development area.
The DEP denied issuing the necessary permits for the project in 2008, but the DEP decided to settle and issue the permits, which the court agreed with.
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The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club disagreed with the court's ruling.
"The court tends to defer to state agencies in permitting issues. In this case, they were wrong," Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club director, said in a statement. "They deferred to the DEP on important issues without actually looking at the facts."
The Sierra Club is concerned about the possible effect the project could have the region's drinking water.
Issuing the permits could "not only destroy an environmentally sensitive mountain in the Highlands, but also put the drinking water for 2 million people at risk," Tittel said.
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