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Dowel/Centex Development Info

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Note: This page will update as events unfold and new information becomes available. Please check back often!

What's New? Look Here for breaking news on the Centex application to build this development, including Township meetings, state and municipal actions, citizen involvement, etc. See below for previous announcements.

Land Use Board unanimously votes to deny Dowel/Centex "River Walk" application Posted 2004 Dec. 17

The Harmony Township Land Use Board, at its December 16th meeting on the Dowel/Centex application to build their proposed 315 unit "River Walk" high-density subdivision, voted unanimously to approve a motion denying the application because the site is not suitable.

Thomas Borden, an attorney from the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic (representing Harmony Projects Committee), presented his arguments for denying the application, citing failure to comply with New Jersey state standards, missing permits, and conflict with the state affordable housing guidelines under which the high-density development was planned. LLoyd Tubman, attorney for the applicant, argued that all requirements have been met and Board questions answered.

The meeting was then "closed" for deliberation: deliberation was carried out before the public, in a quasi-judicial process where only members of the Land Use Board could speak, except that the Board's or applicant's professionals could answer direct questions from the Board. Chairman Gilbert Greene asked the Board engineer and Frank Getchell, a hydrogeologist retained by the Board for the Dowel/Centex application, for their evaluation of the suitability of the site. They both commented on open questions concerning the on-site sewage system, stormwater management, and the geology of the site.

The Dowel tract is in a limestone area with a particularly high incidence of sinkholes. At various times during the 17 Land Use Board meetings on "River Walk", there has been varied and sometimes controversial testimony about the geologic character of the site, and particularly its karst features. Most of the Board members spoke during deliberation, and the concerns expressed most often were those about geology and water. Chairman Greene referred particularly to the discharge-to-groundwater drip irrigation field from the proposed on-site sewage treatment plant, which is designed to deliver treated sewage effluent to the ground at a rate equivalent to covering the irrigation field with 300 inches (25 feet!) of water each year, and that this amount is estimated to be 20 times as much water as would naturally infiltrate into the subsurface soil. Because limestone can be very sensitive to water flows (especially in a karst area), there is an unquantified but significant risk of sinkholes forming. Mr. Greene also quoted the applicant's own geologist, who in defending the stability of the land where the sewage discharge field was planned stated that it was the only land on the site where sinkholes were not likely to form. Board engineer Mace and hydrogeologist Getchell testified about a line of sinkholes that have formed on the site since crops were planted in the Spring, referring to their appearance as a "red flag".

When the Board members had completed their comments, Chairman Greene read a lengthy motion he had prepared, to deny the Dowel/Centex application. Some of its major grounds were the unsuitability of the site, primarily in respect of geology and its relation to wastewater and groundwater, and the conflicts between the application and the State Development and Redevelopment Plan: the Dowel site is an a planning area that calls for minimal or no development; high-density construction and the resulting dramatic increases in road traffic are directly at odds with the "smart growth" plan.

The Land Use Board passed the motion unanimously in a roll call vote. In virtually his last official act, outgoing Land Use Board chairman Greene said to the Dowel/Centex representatives, "you have your verdict."

What's Next? Denial of the Dowel/Centex application is not the end of the story. Check this space soon for information about what is likely to happen in the coming weeks and months.

Now that the huge high-density Centex development is no longer imminent, it is most important to support the new zoning that will come before the Township Committee on Monday, December 20. If this zoning is not passed, it could increase by dozens the number of extra houses built in Harmony over the next few years, and hundreds in the next decade or more. In the long run, this issue is just as important to the Township as "River Walk". Come and show your support!

What's All This About?

What is the Dowel/Centex development?

Centex Corporation, based in Dallas, Texas, has applied to our township's Land Use Board to build 315 houses on a farm tract adjoining Garrison Road. Centex calls its proposed development "River Walk." Centex plans to have construction completed and all units sold and occupied by the end of 2007.

Click to see maps showing the site's approximate location: a street map, a more detailed map, and a satellite image.

Click to see a photo of the farmland where this development is planned (from August 2003), and a version that shows the lot boundaries. The photo was taken from a vantage point close to the Delaware River, looking SouthEast.

Some facts about the proposed development

• In the 1980's, Dowel Associates acquired the 185 acre tract of farmland, and then sued Harmony Township for not providing its "fair share" of affordable housing (defined as housing affordable to low- and moderate-income families).

• On February 6, 1990, the suit was settled by an agreement between Dowel Associates and the Township of Harmony permitting the construction of 315 houses on the tract, 36 of these houses being price-restricted for low- and moderate-income families.

• The Dowel/Centex site is surrounded by approximately 500 acres of active farmland.

• The geology underlying the Dowel/Centex is limestone. The site has a history of sinkhole formation.

• The land around the site is presently zoned for 2.5 acre residential lots.

• In 2003, Centex Homes, a subsidiary of Centex Corporation, submitted an application to construct a development on the site in accordance with the 1990 agreement.

• The Centex plan includes construction of an on-site wastewater treatment plant, that will discharge its effluent into groundwater.

• The Centex plan shows about ten new roads within the development, including four intersections with Garrison Road and one intersection with River Road.

Links to background information

Click for more on the history of this development.

Click here for some of the environmental concerns that have come up in the Land Use Board proceedings (starts at 8th paragraph, where "Riverwalk" is mentioned).

Why Is This Important?

New Jersey is in a period of drastic change resulting from the construction of roads, housing developments, and shopping centers. Of the 50 United States, the most crowded and in some ways most polluted is New Jersey. Harmony Township is a jewel in its region: one of the few rural municipalities that looks much like it did fifty years ago. Its special qualities are deeply connected with its low population density and growth rate. "River Walk" would be the first major subdivision in Harmony Township, and would bring dramatic changes affecting the land and its residents in numerous ways:

• Population – 38% population increase

• Township School – 66% increase in enrollment, need for new classrooms

• Property Taxes – 21% increase in total tax rate

• Road Traffic – 3000 vehicle trips daily

• Environment – Numerous concerns including water quality

Click for more impact information.

What Can I Do to Help Preserve Harmony Township?

• Keep attending the Land Use Board meetings. The next meeting on "River Walk" is Monday, November 22.

• Keep a positive attitude. Yes, Centex Corporation is wealthy and powerful. Even so, a development in Hunterdon County much like "River Walk" has been stopped! Your involvement makes a big difference.

• Talk with your neighbors about this issue. Encourage people to get informed and involved.

• Harmony Projects Committee is circulating a petition, and may have others in the future. Sign the petition, and even better, help to get the petition to your neighbors.

• Contact the members of the Township Committee and let them know that you want Harmony to meet its affordable housing obligation without "River Walk." This will cost the township (and its taxpayers) money, but far less than the development would.

• Make a donation to Harmony Projects Committee, part of the non-profit Phillipsburg Riverview Organization. Harmony Projects Committee is extremely fortunate to have superb legal counsel at no fee, but there are some expenses (at present, the fee for an expert witness) that must be covered. As of today, only a few hundred dollars are needed, so a contribution of even $10 or $20 will help a lot. Donations are tax deductible.

• Volunteer some time and energy. There are plenty of jobs, big and small, that need doing.

Previous News Items

Land Use Board will likely vote at its meeting on Thursday, December 16 Posted 2004 Dec. 16

At the December 7 meeting of the Land Use Board, the applicant presented further testimony on the geology of the site, especially the small percentage of the site area where the drip-field for effluent from the on-site sewage treatment plant will be located. The applicant's expert testified that the soil and underlying rock are suitable for this purpose. At the end of the meeting, an environmental report from the Land Use Board's environmental consultant and other environmental questions were mentioned; Dowel/Centex representatives said they had not yet received these. At the December 16 meeting, the applicant is expected to make their response (if any) to the environmental report.

Because there is so little time remaining for the Board this year (see below), the Land Use Board will probably vote at tonight's meeting. There are many sound reasons for the Board to vote against this application, and strong pressure on the Board to approve it. It will help the Board to see the support of the community: it's important to come, and to invite your neighbors. Please be at the Harmony Township Municipal Building at 7:30 PM.

Next Land Use Board meeting on Monday, December 7; Board to vote before year end Posted 2004 Nov. 1, Revised Nov. 22

Although most of the Land Use Board meetings on the Dowel/Centex application have been held on the third Thursday of each month, the meeting schedule for November has been postponed; the next meeting will be on Monday, the December 7th, 7:30 PM at the Harmony Township Municipal Building. Through its engineer, the Land Use Board has submitted to the applicant a list of questions concerning the application that Dowel/Centex has not yet answered to the Board's satisfaction. Most of these questions are on environmental matters. We understand that the Dowel/Centex has discussed these questions in a non-public meeting with the engineer. There may be testimony concerning them at the December 7 meeting .

The Land Use Board agreed to keep two dates open in December for the Dowel/Centex application, so it can be concluded before 2004 ends and the terms of some Board members expire. The Land Use Board may well vote on the Dowel/Centex application at the December 7th meeting; if not, the Board will undoubtedly vote at a later December meeting.

P.S. Apologies for not giving more notice of the rescheduling of this meeting. We got the news about 5 PM on the 22nd.

You can help Harmony Projects Committee cover the costs Posted 2004 Nov. 1

Harmony Projects Committee has been intensely active in bring the case against "River Walk" before the Land Use Board. The defeat of this development will help to preserve the natural and rural beauty of this community, and would save each homeowner many thousands of dollars in taxes during the coming years. Harmony Projects Committee helped to bring in expert legal help from the Rutgers Environmental Law clinic, as well as the two expert witnesses who testified at the October Land Use Board meeting. While most of this important work has been done on a shoestring budget, getting the help of a nationally recognized technical expert like Mr. Cahill (see below) costs money. Harmony Projects Committee has already raised money to pay such expenses, and now needs about five hundred dollars more to pay Mr. Cahill's expert witness appearance fee. You can help by making a tax-deductible donation (any amount is helpful, no matter how small), or volunteering to help out in a fund-raising activity.

The October Land Use Board meeting: environmental testimony Posted 2004 Nov. 1

The October 21 Land Use Board meeting on Dowel/Centex application was devoted almost entirely to expert testimony on environmental issues.

Thomas Cahill of Cahill Associates is a widely recognized expert of stormwater management, who participated in the drafting of the new Stormwater Management regulations for the State of New Jersey that took effect in February 2004. Mr. Cahill testified that the method used by Centex in predicting the stormwater runoff from its proposed development greatly understates the volume of water come from the Dowel site after the development is completed. Basically, the soil is compacted by standard techniques of construction, and this compaction reduces its ability to absorb water. The Centex predictions assume that the soil will absorb water as well as it does in its present farmland condition. Mr. Cahill testified that the stormwater management design of the Centex development would need significant changes in order to comply with the state regulation that the amount of runoff from the site not be increased by the development.

Troy Ettel, Director of Conservation of the New Jersey Audubon Society, testified about the impact of the proposed development on wildlife. He described the Harmony Grasslands, a region of more than 5000 acres that at present is mostly farmland, and is the home of many species of wildlife, including a number of rare and threatened bird species. The Harmony Grasslands stretches from Lopatcong to Belvidere; its widest part is here in Harmony Township, between Route 519 and the Delaware River. Mr. Ettel testified that this widest part, known as the Garrison Road Grasslands area, is of the most importance to wildlife because some species need a particular habitat that stretches some distance in all directions. The Garrison Road Grasslands has been designated by the State of New Jersey as a Natural Heritage Priority Site, one of only 4 or 5 such grassland sites in the state, because of its importance as a home for species that are dwindling in New Jersey, mainly due to disruption of their habitat. The Dowel site is near the middle of the Garrison Road Grasslands. Mr. Ettel testified that in such a habitat, making a "hole" in the middle can ruin the value of the area as habitat for some species, even though it is a small percentage of the total area. He gave as an example that a 200 acre development in the middle of a 5000 acre wooded area can prevent certain species from living or nesting in the entire area. Mr. Ettel testified that some of the ways a residential development would affect the wildlife in the Grasslands include noise, traffic, outdoor lighting, and predation (killing) of wildlife by household pets (mainly cats), rodents such as raccoons that are attracted to residential developments, and species such as Blue Jays that are attracted to bird feeders, and are well known for raiding bird nests.

Harmony Projects Committee petition drive Posted 2004 Sep. 17, Updated Sep. 18 & Oct. 19

Harmony Projects committee, part of the non-profit Phillipsburg Riverview Organization, circulated a petition for public signature. Environmental problems with the Dowel/Centex development may make its construction infeasible; this petition asks the Township government to take steps to prepare plans for Harmony that do NOT include Dowel/Centex, or any other huge high-density development. This is a crucial step toward saving Harmony from this devastating development. Click to see the text of the petition.

This petition, with about 180 signatures, was presented to the Township Committee at its regular meeting on October 5, along with information for the Committee on how Harmony Township can meet its affordable housing obligation without high-density development.

Public testimony meeting of the Land Use Board: the community showed up in force! Posted 2004 Sep. 16

Click to see the Express-Times article.

Last night at the Thursday September 16 Land Use Board meeting, more than 100 people from the community filled the Township Municipal Building meeting room to capacity and beyond. For the first time in the year since Centex Homes applied for permission to build its 315-unit "River Walk" development, the public had the opportunity to testify:

• The whole meeting was devoted to public testimony

• Harmony Township School administrator Vicki Pede testified that school costs would be substantially larger than those estimated by Centex

• Numerous people testified on environmental impacts, concerns, and questions

• There was sensational testimony on the amount of sinkholes occurring around the Dowel/Centex site

Strong community turnout sent a powerful message of support for preservation. Due to the crowd, some people weren't able to get into the meeting room, or to hear from the back. Please keep checking back here: we'll provide more information from the September 16 meeting, and your opportunity to testify at October's meeting.

Error in Centex Community Impact Statement: Tax Increase Projection Revised From 18% to 21% Posted 2004 Sep. 11

We have discovered that the Community Impact Statement (Feb. 2003, submitted to the Township Land Use Board) used to compute real estate tax impact (as shown in the Harmony Projects Committee flyer) contains a clerical error. Its figure of $3,106,008 per year to educate public school students from "River Walk" comes from Table 4 on page 6. The "Per Pupil, 9-12th" figure for 2006 is 10,505. Table 6 on page 9 shows 41 new high school students for 2006; multiply 41 by the statement's assumed $8,500 per year for high school students, and the correct figure would be $348,500. The addition in Table 4 uses the incorrect figure, and therefore understates the total by $337,995 per year, the corrected total being $3,444,003 per year. The projected real estate tax increase comes to more than $377 per year per hundred thousand dollars of valuation, or 21% more than today's rate.