State officials offer Upper Freehold planning advice
Density transfers, town centers cited as 'smart growth'
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

The Upper Freehold Township Planning Board learned a little more last week about what the state considers to be "smart growth."

On Aug. 10, representatives from the state Office of Smart Growth (OSG) gave the board a presentation on Smart Growth.

According to the OSG, Smart Growth is an approach to land use planning that targets the state's resources and funding in ways that enhance the quality of life for residents in New Jersey.

Smart Growth is a term used to describe well-planned, well-managed growth that adds new homes and creates new jobs, while preserving open space, farmland and environmental resources, according to the OSG.

Smart Growth also supports livable neighborhoods with a variety of housing types, price ranges and multimodal forms of transportation, according to the OSG.

Russel Like, an OSG planner, told the board that there was a dramatic change in the state's development from 1972 to 2001. He said there was a decline in older communities and an increase in property taxes.

Land use patterns have created traffic problems and an overreliance on the automobile, he said. The patterns have also contributed to the disappearance of open land and the depletion of natural resources, he said.

Like said that Upper Freehold "is at the frontier" of these development patterns.

According to Like, there are 1,134 people per square mile in New Jersey, making it more densely populated than Japan or India.

Whereas the United States' average density is 80 people per square mile, Upper Freehold currently has 90 people per square mile, according to Like.

"It's just about the U.S. average, but less than 10 percent of the New Jersey average," Like said.

Like acknowledged the enormous growth pressure Upper Freehold is experiencing and said unmanaged growth leads to a deteriorating infrastructure and sprawl.

Like characterized Smart Growth as compact development that has a mix of activities arranged close together that focuses on the existing infrastructure. He said Smart Growth channels growth to centers, villages and cities that have transportation choices. The result, he said, is attractive, interesting communities that are walkable and efficient and create a sense of place.

Courtenay Mercer, the planning director of OSG, said that more compact development with less sprawl enhances the quality of life and the economy.

"The consumer has choice in the type of housing stock and mode of transportation," she said.

Mercer lauded Upper Freehold as the only community in the state with a country code.

The country code is a document that expresses that Upper Freehold residents are committed to maintaining a rural community and a country lifestyle by contributing a portion of their tax dollars to farmland preservation, forgoing services in suburban and city areas and traveling an extra distance for necessities.

Mercer said Smart Growth can help the township maintain its country code.

She showed the board a 1974 township map that consisted primarily of farmland with little development. A 2002 map showed a great deal more development, but still a large agricultural base.

To put half of Upper Freehold's 9,500 developable acres left into the traditional Farmland Preservation Program would cost an estimated $69 million, with $11 million coming from township coffers, according to Mercer.

"You can't buy it all," she said. "The residents would not appreciate bearing that much tax."

Mercer said the township needs a strategy to coordinate with its large landowners. She said large-lot zoning is a possible plan to reduce township growth. Although that option would mean fewer houses, Mercer said it could indicate that farms would ultimately disappear.

Mercer said cluster housing would take the viability out of farming because development infringes on farming.

Smart Growth promotes new growth patterns, she said. According to Mercer, the same number of houses that would be developed under the township's current zoning would take up much less land under Smart Growth. The result would be more open space and farmland preservation.

Mayor Stephen Fleischacker said many township residents feel that Upper Freehold is rural and therefore should not have town centers and more growth.

"The opinion of some residents is [to] just stop [growth]," he said. "Leave the community as it is."

Mercer said, "You can't just stop it. You can't buy it all."

According to Mercer, downzoning would only be effective if the township went to between 25- and 50-acre parcels. She said she does not think anyone in the state of New Jersey would want to deal with the kind of court case downzoning like that would bring about.

Planning Board Chairman Richard Stern, a farmer, said the local agricultural industry is "in the biggest pickle" it has been in since the Depression.

Stern wanted to know how landowners could maintain equity through the density transfers needed for Smart Growth.

"Without the equity in the land, we're done," he said. "With large-lot zoning, we lose equity in the land. It cannot happen in the agricultural community we have."

Mercer cited Chesterfield Township in Burlington County as a Smart Growth model.

Mercer said Chesterfield is building houses on 500 acres of land in exchange for the preservation of 7,000 acres under a transfer of development rights (TDR) program.

Township Committeeman Sal Diecidue said he had seen a concept plan for Chesterfield and that it is virtually building another town with its own school.

Township Planner Mark Remsa said Chesterfield created a town center because of its poorly developed road network. He told the board that there is no "cookbook approach" for density transfers and said that they must be tailored to each community.

Remsa noted that Upper Freehold has several major road systems running through it, including county routes 537, 539 and 524, as well as I-195. He said the board should look at the township's major roads and crossroads when creating potential receiving areas for density transfers.

In terms of trying to control growth, Remsa also noted that single-family houses usually generate children, while more compact homes typically do not.