U.F. reviews policies for detention basins
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

UPPERFREEHOLD- PlanningBoard Attorney Dennis Collins has warned the board to be proactive when fashioning ordinances for the maintenance of detention basins under the state's new storm-water regulations.

Collins said homeowners associations formed for the maintenance of basins need more oversight and disclosure. He said the township should create an ordinance to require developers to provide the necessary seedmoney for the basins to the homeowners associations, and the planner should create mechanisms in the master plan so "people don't get crushed 10 years down the road."

Collins also said Upper Freehold should require basins to be inspected annually and to have inspection reports filed with the town. Mayor Steve Alexander said the Township Committee would have to implement such ordinances if suggested asmaster plan amendments by the Planning Board.

PlanningBoardEngineerGlennGerken said that in the past, Upper Freehold and many other towns have had a policy to put detention basins on a lot in a subdivision with a deed restriction that the homeowner must keep. The town would be responsible for the hardware in the basin, he said.However, new state storm-water management regulations do not permit that policy.

Gerken said detention basins must now either be turned over to themunicipality for maintenance or be the responsibility of a homeowners association. Gerken said the state also requires the municipality to have a fund to cover the costs of basin maintenance for 100 years. He said the state projects a 6 percent increase in costs each year, but expects the fund to earn less than 6 percent, which puts the municipality "behind the eight ball."

Collins said the township must create a dedicated trust fund for basin maintenance and must bill against that fund when township employees dowork on basins.He called this "a significant exercise in accounting" and said it may become an accounting and administration nightmare.

Chief Financial Officer Dianne Kelly, who also serves on the Planning Board, said Department of Public Works (DPW) employees' work time would have to be billed against the fund, as would a percentage of their benefits.

Planning Board Chairman John Mele said another way to handle the issue would be to go to public bid and have one contract for all basins.

"We don't even inspect ponds there now," he said. "Ponds tend to deteriorate over time. We don't pick up on it until it is past the point of return."

Mele said that based on the new regulations, future development applications would either have to have enormous pieces of property for basins, which developers are unlikely to create, or smaller parcels with sand filters and screening devices.

Mele said that current developments with homeowners associations thatmanage basins are Lynwood Estates, The Grande at Old York, and Provinceline Estates. Those subdivisions with basins on individual lots include Galloping Brook, Drews Farm, Cranberry Court, Hidden Lakes, Jewel Ridge Estates, Golf Edge Estates, and The Woods at Cream Ridge, he said.

New Canton Estates on Route 524 has its basin on a farmland lot owned andmaintained by farmer Bob Freiberger, according to Mele. The basins at the Heritage Green and Four Seasons developments fall under a different classification, he said.

If there are violations at basins maintained by a homeowners association, the town must go after the homeowners association, saidMele. If the violations are not corrected, the township could place liens on every home in the association, he said.

Collins said that when homeowners associations fail to maintain the basins, the township has the right but not the obligation to go in and fix them, since the town is responsible for the ultimate discharge.

"The larger the number of units, the more viable the homeowners association is," he said. "Somemunicipalities have a threshold at which a homeowners association is formed."

Kelly said the costs should be borne by the developer.

"As a town, I don't think we should be in the business of maintaining [basins]," she said.

Mele said the only issue with charging the cost to developers is that they are out of the picture once they get theirmaintenance and performance bonds back.

Alexander, a Lynwood Estates resident, said he bought his home knowing about the homeowners association. He said the new regulations are creating bigger government, and could create higher costs to taxpayers.

Alexander said most revenue in the township comes from homeowners. He asked whether the township should have more government or homeowners associationsmaintain the basins. Collins said that, historically, homeowners associations are formed just to manage the storm-water facility.

"Many homeowners associations break down as costs start to escalate," he said.