Code cracking under development pressures
Residents believe philosophy remains viable but threatened
BY JANE MEGGITT
and JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writers

PHOTOSBY JEFF GRANIT staff Above: This cloud lingering over Heritage Hill Farm on Hill Road in Upper Freehold can't be an ominous sign, because the farm and its open space have already been preserved for future generations to enjoy through a farmland preservation program. Below: Many of these Preserved Farmland signs can be seen throughout Upper Freehold. This one stands by Heritage Hill Farm on Hill Road.

UPPER FREEHOLD - When asked if the country code still seems relevant nearly a decade after the township adopted it, most residents surveyed believe that it is, but that it's eroding because of land prices and other development pressures.

The country code, adopted in 1998, declares that the Upper Freehold community is committed to remaining rural. The policy statement notifies current and prospective residents that the town offers fewer and more modest municipal services than neighboring communities and warns residents that they should expect the smells, noises and time delays caused by farming operations and related equipment. In exchange for living in the country atmosphere, residents enjoy relatively lower property taxes and the township's rural character, according to the code.

Former Township Committeeman Fred Kniesler explained that the code was originally crafted by residents who felt that Upper Freehold is a section of New Jersey that could be home to smaller, family-oriented farming operations, attractive to the equine industry and complemented with attractive neighboring residential growth.

Kniesler said he believes the code will survive as long as the majority of the township's residents want it to.

"This sentiment has to be expressed and fully conveyed to the elected members of the township governing body and to the appointed members of the township Planning Board," Kniesler said.

According to Richard Osborn, another former township committeeman, when the township first adopted the country code, officials intended for every new resident to get a copy of it when they received a Certificate of Occupancy.

PHOTOSBYJEFF GRANIT staff Above: Open spaces are at the heart of most planning debates in Upper Freehold. Whereas some residents would like to see them preserved, others would like to see them developed. This open space, which is part of Heritage Hill Farm on Hill Road, has been permanently preserved. At right: Watering sprinklers are just some of the farming equipment Upper Freehold farms use to conduct daily operations.

"I don't think this was ever followed up on," he said.

However, Osborn said he believes the code still holds true for the community today.

"I wish more people would pay attention to it," he said.

Philosophy at heart of debates

Jennifer Coffey, a Planning Board and Environmental Advisory Committee member and an independent candidate for Township Committee, said the code is at the heart of all the debates in the township regarding revising the master plan and other related issues.

The township has been trying to revise its master plan for the past two years. Most recently, potential revisions have included rezoning for hamlets or village centers, which are areas of larger-scale housing and commercial development; allowing for density transfers, which would help preserve larger tracts of land in the more rural areas of town; and removing the bonus density option for developers who cluster their developments on large tracts of land.

Coffey said, "The question is how to keep the country code viable with increasing development pressure mounting in the most densely populated state in the nation."

Ominous signs linger

Resident Elaine McMinn believes the country code is in trouble.

"With the recent announcement regarding Princeton Nurseries' decision to close and the number of developments cropping up - our town fathers need to wake up," she said.

Patrick Nolan, a member of the township's Economic Development Committee, said that the country code is predicated on farmers remaining in Upper Freehold to farm their land, and the residents supporting that way of life.

For Nolan, the question is, Can the farmers of Upper Freehold continue to afford to farm in New Jersey?

"To hear Ivan Olinsky [president of Princeton Nurseries] make a statement that 'most farmers in Upper Freehold aren't making any money' is an ominous sign," he said.

Another ominous sign Nolan sees for the fate of farming in New Jersey is that slot machines are being placed at every racetrack in every state on New Jersey's borders, but not in New Jersey. He also noted that there have been repeated calls for help by equine farmers in the state.

Nolan sees the potential to maintain farming as a way of life in Upper Freehold as something that extends far beyond the township's country code.

"The issues of the farmers' ability to compete in their industry and our township's willingness to support them through a country code are very separate," he said. "If our farmers ultimately cannot afford to continue farming here, what does our country code then stand for?"

Resident Walter Helfrecht said too many large landowners are being tempted by the big-dollar values developers like K. Hovnanian, Toll Brothers, Orleans Homes and Ryan Homes can offer for property.

"The [township's] bonus density option and cluster option has led to a lot of gross development that has not maintained agriculture or open space," he said. "This 'selling out' to the developers has wrought many

problems - from failing septics to crowded roadways, to a monotonous appearance of McMansions on lots smaller than even the 2-acre minimum that was the requirement in 1994, and until just a few years ago when 3-acre minimum zoning came to be."

Helfrecht called this growth "stupid growth promulgated by stupid zoning ordinances written to be attractive to developers so they could shoehorn in more units per acre, thus raising their revenues, at the expense of sensitive ecology and soils, and the rest of the residents of Upper Freehold."

To keep the code from breaking

Helfrecht said rural agricultural communities are spread out on large expanses with generally modest and relatively sparse housing and with less roadway and service demands. Taxes for municipal purposes in such communities are very reasonable, he said.

Helfrecht said the township's master plan needs to be written in a way that declares that residential, big-box commercial, and warehouse industrial development are not priority growth tactics in Upper Freehold.

"The ensuing ordinances need to give that revelation legal teeth," he said.

Helfrecht supports increasing the open space tax so that the township isn't strapped for cash when it comes to preserving more land and isn't too dependent upon Garden State Preservation Trust funding or other private-source funding for preservation efforts.

McMinn said she does not have the answers for the township's plight.

"But being one of the last remaining really open space municipalities left in Monmouth County, I feel strongly that we need to do anything possible to retain what is left," she said.

Resident Phil Sinicropi said that in order to preserve the country code, the township must position itself as a willing buyer of land. He suggested creating a "war chest" of funding for land preservation.

"We are at a crossroads and the residents of our community control our destiny," he said. "We must fund a land preservation program that gives us the credibility of a land buyer. The state and county open space funds are tapped out."

Sinicropi believes that land ownership stabilizes a property tax base.

"Investing in a land acquisition program today will prevent future tax increases and preserve our country code," he said. "If landowners want to sell their property in our town, we have the right to buy it."

From resident Jon S. Tomson's perspective, the Township Committee should retain the code by focusing its planning intent on preserving the town as it is rather than creating plans for it focused on full build-out.

"Developers seek first and foremost to make money, and frankly their goal is to pave everything over until we are suburban," he said. "We have a small farm, which is planted in alfalfa. Several times a year, we receive unsolicited letters from developers as far away as California asking us if we interested in selling our 'vacant' land."

Tomson said he hopes that "vacant" land will continue to be a characteristic of Upper Freehold and that the town moves more assertively into finding ways, including methods of zoning, to preserve open space and the town's rural character.

Balancing progress with the code

Doug Walsh, a resident and the developer of the Cox's Corner commercial center, said he can sum up the country code issue in "two p's."

"Protection and progress and how we balance the scales for both," he said.

He said the township has to respect those who enjoy living in the community as well as those looking to move in.

"A happy compromise between the 'old' and the 'new' is what Upper Freehold should be all about," Walsh said.

Walsh said the township continues to preserve farmland and has all types of horse and agricultural farms.

"Yes, the look of the town has changed in 20 years, dotted with large residential subdivisions, but that is all over, not just in Upper Freehold," he said. "Ironically, the majority of the protesters to any future development reside in these new subdivisions. So we need to refer back to, 'This is America.' "

Although resident Linda Zarnett would like to see the town stay rural, she said the community must allow farmers to sell their land if they no longer want to farm it.

For Zarnett, development is inevitable so managing it to fit into the country lifestyle is essential to maintaining the country code philosophies.

"Clustered housing or condos with sewage seems acceptable or light industry that has open space requirements where we could put walking or biking paths or ball fields and use the parking lots on weekends for public use makes sense to me," she said. "Paying for the sewage or preserved land and not getting the taxes on the land we preserve (which is a cost to us) might just equal out in the end."

Landowner Valerie Palluzzi said, "You can't have newcomers or old-timers trying to change the town to suit their needs."

Palluzzi noted that all of the people in Upper Freehold are never going to totally agree.

"But if people have the same feeling or share the same values and importance of this town - we can all work together to keep that rural atmosphere," she said.

She continued, "We as people of Upper Freehold need to stop thinking of ourselves and do what is best for this beautiful, rural slice of New Jersey because once our land is raped and pillaged, it will never be the same."

Resident Joan Harper said she moved into Upper Freehold in 1973 for the purpose of having a place where she could ride her horse and enjoy "God's great countryside."

"It has slowly but continually fallen by the wayside," she said.

She said farmland does not require additional schools or recreational fields that cost more tax money.

With regard to proposed master plan changes, Harper said, "To think of taking beautiful land like White Birch Farm and making a town center is ludicrous. If someone wants to live in a town center, let them move to Robbinsville."

Harper also said Upper Freehold does not need to turn more pervious land into "blacktop city" because that would create more runoff and flooding problems.

"Every time a roof or driveway is created, runoff problems are made," she said. "And [the runoff] all goes downhill, and guess where it ends up? That's right, in the big rivers like the Delaware or Raritan, and then we wonder why there [are] flood problems that were never there before."

Harper would like to see the land in Upper Freehold remain open for future generations to enjoy.

The code's overall positive effect

For many residents the philosophy set forth in the country code is made apparent in Upper Freehold today by the town's numerous acres of preserved land.

"We have several dozen preserved farms and are moving toward 8,000 preserved acres in the near future," resident Chris Berzinski said. "Upper Freehold Township is one of the most rural towns in Central Jersey because of the commitment of so many farmers to keep it that way."

Helfrecht said Upper Freehold has a good equine industry, crop farming, Christmas tree farms, nurseries and sod farms as well as vegetable, flower and fruit markets that the township needs to encourage to stay. He said the township should consider a right-of-first refusal ordinance, which would give landowners the opportunity to sell their properties to the township before having to sell to developers.

"It's not too late, but we cannot dillydally with village centers and floating hamlets any more," Helfrecht said. "Let's get off that train now and get on board with a sensible protocol toward keeping Upper Freehold Township the pretty and productive and prosperous place that we all know it can be, sensitive to its ecology and limitations, and along with that, in keeping the country code."