Saturday, January 8, 2022
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Photo By Douglas Melegari
Gravel pit at Hass Sand and Gravel, in the vicinity of Carranza and Forked Neck roads in Tabernacle Township, where there is an interest in establishing a community solar project.
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(Continued from Page 1) gravel pit. Passage of the measure, however, had initially been delayed, mostly due to a number of public comments, as well as “good questions” posed by both residents and a retiring committeeman regarding the anticipated solar project details, including over how outstanding site remediation work would be handled moving forward. Three parcels that had been designated as part of the Infill Commercial District were converted over to the Preservation Area District through the ordinance’s Dec. 6 passage, and the measure also contains language that now makes “solar energy facilities” a “permitted, principal use” in the Preservation Area District, provided certain standards are met. The Pine Barrens Tribune previously reported that the township administration
explained that the ordinance would allow for a commercial solar operation in the township at Hass Sand and Gravel’s gravel pit, in the vicinity of Carranza and Forked Neck roads, and that while the measure “isn’t site specific,” it technically “does address specific sites.” While the gravel pit appears to not currently be in use and is overgrown with vegetation, it has not yet been “officially closed,” the township administration previously revealed to the Pine Barrens Tribune, and it could still technically be used for mining operations. Serving as a point of contention for Joseph Barton, who served on the township committee until Dec. 31, as well as other residents, was that there were “conditions of approval” previously placed on the gravel pit that reportedly have not been met, including “restoration work” (removing the remaining gravel and revegetating the area) that Dante Guzzi, now-former township engineer, confirmed in late summer was still “outstanding.” The latest plan, said Guzzi at
the time, is for the issues to be resolved “as part of this approval of the solar facility.” Barton, after voicing reservations about moving forward with the ordinance, was ultimately outnumbered by his colleagues in an introductory vote, and then absent from the final two township committee meetings of his term, including the one where the ordinance was ultimately decided following second reading, said to be “under the weather” by Kim Brown, who served as Tabernacle’s mayor until the end of the year. “The (security) bond to restore that property was from 2005,” said Carranza Road resident Ron Moule, during the Dec. 6 meeting, of what he found when he recently reviewed documents pertaining to the gravel pit as part of an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request he made. “I am wondering why you are not using the bond to restore the property before we rezone it?” Tow nsh ip Solicitor William Bur ns contended that the ordinance up for adoption is “just a general ordinance” pertaining to the zoning classification of the 10 properties, though he acknowledged “it does have specific items in there that must be adhered to if in fact this development were to occur.” “There has not been an application for this particular development, it just allows it to happen,” Burns contended. Brow n p oi nt e d out t h at “f u r t her constraints can be put on the property at the next level,” or when any site plan is provided to the township’s Land Use Board. When Moule asked, “Why rezone for one person’s financial gain?”, Burns maintained that “there are multiple properties listed in this ordinance” that “isn’t for an application.” “We’re ju st al low i ng th is t y p e of development to happen in this area,” the township solicitor emphasized. “It is for more than one parcel because one of the
LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES
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areas in question makes up more than one lot and there has to be multiple changes, according to the Pinelands Commission, which required more than one lot to be included.” Burns added that what was included in the ordinance came at the recommendation of the land use board. Joseph Gray, of CME Associates, who succeeded Guzzi as township engineer this past fall, confirmed that “all five items” for remediation referenced in the bond “remain outstanding,” including “regrading of the pit and berms walls in accordance with approved plans (restore tire tracks; seed and stabilize berm walls), installing plantings (on berm walls) as shown on approved plans [from 2003], installing berm blocks as shown on approved plans (to prevent access from any additional roads that lead into the mine area), removing all facilities and equipment (a weigh station is said to be the lone remaining building), … as well as all unstable areas need to be stabilized.” “In terms of the bond, the Haas’ have requested a cost estimate from my office to allow them to obtain a new bond to finish up these items that need to be addressed,” Gray contended. “We are working on that so that they can purchase that bond.” Moule also asked officials if they knew the “deepest depth they dug on the property where they actually hit water,” to which Gray replied that the “depth of the water, as part of the operation, was not to exceed 65 feet in depth of elevation below pre-existing ground surface.” “They were not permitted to get any closer to groundwater than 4 feet,” Gray added. “As for the depth of wells in the surrounding neighborhoods, I am not privy to that as township engineer. I have no way of knowing what the depths are. That is something to See ZONING/ Page 11
