Two planners, one answer: Protect water with zoning
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

UPPER FREEHOLD - Two township studies completed years apart reached similar conclusions, and officials have decided to act as a result of the latter analysis.

Based on a recent nitrate dilution study and possible changes to the state Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Water Quality Management Planning (WQMP) rules to limit the level of nitrates that can be discharged into the groundwater, Township Planner Mark Remsa and his associate Robert Kull recommended that the township increase lot sizes and eliminate the bonus density for builders who opt to cluster their developments.

The Township Committee has already introduced an ordinance to eliminate the bonus density option, and it will have a public hearing on Sept. 6. Mayor Stephen Fleischacker has said that the recent study would also affect the master plan revisions, which township officials have been working on since 2005.

After the release of the Remsa/Kull report, Fleischacker had stated at Township Committee and Planning Board meetings that this is the first time the township has had such information. However, three years ago, then-Township Planner Richard Coppola came to similar conclusions in his report to the Township Committee regarding the potential rezoning of the township's agricultural/residential zoning district.

When asked what he meant by his statement at the meetings in light of the earlier Coppola report, the mayor said that the Coppola report did not determine predicted nitrate concentrations in the drinking-water aquifer under different zoning scenarios and compare them to DEP nitrate limits.

"The Remsa/Kull report presents the first analysis of its kind for Upper Freehold Township groundwater conditions," Fleischacker said.

He said that by contrast, the Coppola report suggests that 6-acre zoning would generally be better than 3-acre zoning in terms of less nitrate impact on groundwater. Fleischacker said that the Coppola report recommends uniform 6-acre zoning. However, Fleischacker said the Coppola report does not address why the township should go to 6-acre zoning and not 4-acre or 10-acre zoning to protect

groundwater quality. Fleischacker said the Remsa/Kull report provides the missing information.

Fleischacker said that the Remsa/Kull report concludes that the township would exceed DEP requirements for nitrate dilution if built-out under current zoning.

"It also concludes a variable zoning range of 1.9 acres to 6.4 acres would achieve compliance with current and future DEP requirements," he said.

When asked why the township considered doing a nitrate dilution study so relatively late in the master plan revision process, and if Coppola's report stressed the issue's importance, Fleischacker said that the nitrate dilution model establishes one of many factors needed as part of a fair and comprehensive planning process.

"The nitrate dilution model establishes an environmental constraint that was not previously defined in any of the previous work, including the Coppola report," he said.

Fleischacker alleged that the Planning Board would not have to go back to the beginning of any of its master plan revision work in light of the information in the Remsa/Kull report.

The Remsa/Kull report states that existing zoning and the use of individual water supply wells and conventional on-site septic systems will result in Upper Freehold's groundwater quality failing to meet standards in many areas of the township, while existing zoning may fail to use all of the development capacity available for septic systems in other areas.

"Conventional and noncontiguous cluster development ordinances can enable 'smart growth' that uses all of this capacity," the report states.

At the July 24 Planning Board meeting, Kull said that the proposed DEP Water Quality Management Planning rules could further reduce the amount of nitrates that can be discharged into the ground. According to Kull, the township could fall subject to having to meet a 2-mg-per-liter limit, which means that the township could have to increase lot sizes from 3 acres to between 4.6 and 6.4 acres, or typically 5.3 acres.

"In most cases, existing zoning lot sizes are too small and may lead to groundwater contamination unless development is reduced or alternatives to individual septic systems are used," Kull said.

The 2004 Coppola report states that in order to safeguard against the contamination of underground potable water supplies from the septic effluent discharged near ground level, the capacity of the soils throughout the township to absorb and adequately filter septic effluent before the effluent enters the potable water supply should be a basic consideration in establishing residential densities and minimum lot sizes for housing within the township.

The Coppola report further states that the groundwater resources of the various geologic formations within the township should be considered, and care should be taken to permit densities and intensities of development commensurate with the capacities of the underlying aquifers to provide an adequate potable water supply.

When writing about determining reasonable minimum lot sizes in his report, Coppola's first criteria is the basic environmental characteristics of Upper Freehold and the second is septic effluent upon the environment.

He wrote that the "Soil Limitations for Septic Filter Fields" map (in his report) graphically shows that the soils throughout almost the entirety of the township are rated by the Soil Conservation Service as having "severe" limitations for the locations of septic systems. Coppola cites proposed DEP rules about water-quality management planning, especially in regard to nitrate levels entering groundwater, and references the Trela-Douglas nitrate dilution model of 1978, and GSR-32 of 1993, the same studies referenced in the Remsa/Kull report.

Fleischacker said that Coppola's citations are general qualitative statements with regard to nitrate dilution.

When asked if someone with a contaminated well may have grounds to sue the township now that two planners have warned about possible groundwater contamination under current zoning, Fleischacker said he cannot address the legal question, but that it is important to note that the nitrate dilution model assesses conditions at build-out and the township is currently not near build-out.