Sunday, April 21, 2013
The group, formerly known as Don't Rezone Waterview, is raising funds for its fight against the development project that include Whole Foods Market and a townhome community.
Residents standing in opposition to the proposed plan for RD Realty to erect a mixed-use retail and residential complex on 26.6 acres of the Waterview tract are taking the next step in their fight. In order to cover the cost of lawyers and experts to argue its case before the Township Council, nonprofit grassroots group Citizens for Health, Safety and Welfare will hold a fundraiser April 28. The group, formerly known as Don't Rezone Waterview, is inviting community members to take part in its “Jump in the Lake!” event on Sunday, April 28, from noon-4 p.m. The fundraiser will take place at Island Beach, on the Boulevard in Mountain Lakes. According to a group statement, the event offers a number of ways for residents to participate. People…
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Do you have an opinion you'd like to share? Patch wants to hear it.
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Wednesday, April 3
At the last “township” meeting concerning the threat of the proposed Waterview development, a paper dated March 18, 2013, and addressed to John P. Inglesino, the township attorney, was made privy to the public. The letter came from law firm Bisgaier Hoff LLC on behalf of developer RD Realty. This correspondence is quite revealing and stands as circumstantial proof of a consortium existing between the developer and the present township administration. It perhaps demonstrates a similar relationship between the township and the owner of the property, Belle Meade Development Corporation. From the letter: The owner of the Property is Belle Meade. Belle Meade has made a final decision to sell the Property, and in furtherance thereof, has entered…
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
A letter from developer RD Realty's attorney saying that if the Whole Foods plan dies, a more controversial project could replace it angers residents and officials alike.
Spirited opposition to a plan to develop 26.6 acres of the Waterview tract for a retail-residential project erupted at Parsippany Hills High School Tuesday night as the Parsipany Township Council met for its monthly business meeting. A Wateview-themed ordinance proposal expected to be introduced was discussed at length and passionately, but at the end of a four-hour-plus meeting, the body voted 5-0 to table its introduction. The council is considering whether to go forward with a plan recommended by the Planning Board to turn the undeveloped Waterview acreage, currently zoned for planned office development, into an overlay zone that would allow mixed-use development. Residents oppose the project as currently proposed in a plan that calls …
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Development foes made their views heard, but did not appear in numbers enough to shut meeting down.
The sight of police cars outside of Town Hall as people gathered for Tuesday's Parsippany Township Council agenda meeting gave many cause for concern. A host of members of Citizens for Health, Safety and Welfare (formerly Don't Rezone Waterview) filed into the municipal building with the expectation that the controversial proposal regarding putting a mixed-use retail and residential complex on 26.6 currently undeveloped acres of Waterview Plaza might be discussed. And some hoped, as had happened during a January Planning Board hearing on the matter, that enough people opposed to the project might attend that the building's fire capacity limit—188 people—might be surpassed, forcing a shutdown of the meeting. That did not happen. Only about…
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The group, now a nonprofit called Citizens for Health, Safety and Welfare, is targeting Council to stop development proposal.
There's a new name and an expanded fight for the citizen's group opposed to the proposed plan to put a mixed-use development on Waterview Plaza including a Whole Foods Market, a big box retailer and a townhome community. Don't Rezone Waterview is now known as Citizens for Health, Safety and Welfare. President David Kaplan said the onetime grassroots effort involving citizens of Parsippany and Mountain Lakes is gearing up for a renewed fight now that the Planning Board passed the issue along to the Township Council for consideration. "We went from Don't Rezone Watervew, which was a grassroots, loosely organized effort to a more formal organization," he said, adding that the group is amassing firepower to allow them to stand toe to toe with …
Friday, February 22, 2013
What do you think? Shoot Patch a Letter to the Editor.
- OPINION
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Friday, February 22
In the upcoming municipal election, there is one issue that is not political: Waterview rezoning. This is an American landscape issue which involves not only quality of life in Parsippany but biodiversity of life. and most of all, clean and safe water. If you investigate, you will see Parsippany has problems with its aquifers and water supplies, much of it coming from overdevelopment. This information can be found in the Highlands Coalition and Rutgers University Water Resource Studies. Mayor James Barberio and the Planning Board, when allowing developer RD Realty to go forward with the outrageous proposal [to build a retail/residential complex consisting of Whole Foods Market, a big box retailer and a townhouse community], have alienated…
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Patch wants to know what you think.
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Tuesday, February 12
At Monday's Planning Board meeting, the board was supposed to cross-examine the developers' plan through his representative. None of that happened. In fact, the model of the proposed development was not there as it had been at the previous meeting. Wanting to challenge and demonstrate the ambiguities that existed in the developers' EcoScience report regarding their claims about Waterview's wetlands and wetlands transition zones was impossible. The developer swears by this "science report" and apparently the Planning Board has swallowed the bait. Last night we discovered that because the property has not been developed some injustice is being done. On these grounds they opted to support the developer over the community. Asking the people …
Police officers were called more than once to escort critical residents away from the microphone at Parsippany Planning Board.
The Parsippany Planning Board Monday finally approved a concept plan that could bring Whole Foods Market, a big box retailer and a 65-unit townhouse community to Waterview Plaza. More than 600 residents came to Parsippany High School for a special hearing on the proposed Waterview development. Many stood in long lines for a turn at a microphone to comment on the proposed RD Realty development project. Most offered harsh critiques of the plan. Still, the board voted 8-1 to recommend that the Township Council draft an ordinance to turn 26.6 acres of the tract zoned for office space into an overlay zone. The lone dissenting vote came from board member Turan Ayaz. Certain conditions went along with the vote: The concept was allowed to move …
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Grassroots residents group wins nonprofit status, gets serious in its battle to prevent Whole Foods Market project from proceeding.
If some business and government officials think they will enjoy an easy time in efforts to construct a retail and residential development including Whole Foods Market on Parsippany's Waterview Plaza, they had better think again. Citizens from the township and neighboring Mountain Lakes have united under the seven-year-old banner of Don't Rezone Waterview to stop the project from going forward. And now armed with a new federally approved nonprofit status, the group has the ability to raise funds to finance a battle to protect a way of life. Right now, the matter is in front of the Parsippany Planning Board, which will hold what may be the final night of deliberations Feb. 11. The board is deciding whether to recommend that the Township …
Friday, February 1, 2013
A Letter to the Editor is a great way to get something off of your chest.
- OPINION
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Friday, February 1
The last of Parsippany's wooded lots, those on Mountain Way and Waterview Plaza, should be re-zoned for Green Acres. Their true value lies in helping the planet's bio-diversity in providing fresh air, keeping aquifers and remaining wetlands clean and seving as habitat for wildlife species like songbirds and butterflies, especially the migrating monarch. If the township can make possible voter referendums for sports fields upgrades including artificial turf, why can't our Town Council organize for open space and biological diversity? Parsippany has had more than enough development. Look at the results beyond a business view: It's more traffic, more pollution and especially trash and litter, which is totally out of bounds here and all …
Kramit the Frog
7:57 pm on Sunday, April 21, 2013
Seriously Natalie? That comment should be deleted. Are you moderating this forum or tolerating it? more ›