preserve-harmony.org
5 Acre Zoning comes before Township Committee December 20th
What: Presently, most of the land in Harmony that is zoned for residential development has a 2.5 acre minimum lot size. On August 4 of this year, the Harmony Land Use Board voted to recommend new zoning for the Township. The new zoning that was recommended by the Land Use Board would increase the minimum lot size to 5 acres. Zones that already have larger minimum lot sizes (because of steeply sloped terrain, for example) would also see increases. Only the Township Committee can enact changes in zoning. The Township Committee has already held two special meetings discussing the proposed new zoning and an ordinance to adopt if for the Township. The Committee is expected to vote on the zoning ordinance at its meeting on Monday, December 20th at 7:30 PM, at the Harmony Township Municipal Building.
Why: Amost every residence in Harmony today uses a well for its water source, and a septic system for sewage disposal. Although a properly functioning septic system does a good job of cleaning the water, it cannot remove nitrates, chemical compounds that are always part of sewage (and most agricultural fertilizers). High concentrations of nitrates in drinking water can cause health problems, especially for the very young and the elderly. The only way to limit the amount of nitrates where septic systems and wells are used is by dilution: the land area must be big enough that rain water coming into the ground will dilute the nitrates from the septic system to a safe level before the water gets back to any well.
The State of New Jersey standard for nitrate concentrations in drinking water is 2 milligrams per liter at the property boundaries. The Final 2003 Water Quality Report of the Warren County Strategic Growth Plan states that for Harmony Township, minimum lot sizes must be in the range from 4.3 to 5.1 acres in order to dilute nitrates to the 2 mg/l level. This is the basis for the Land Use Board's recommended zoning change.
To see this report, click on the link above (this is a pdf document that could take a while to load). Note that the report refers also to a nitrate concentration of 10 mg/l at much smaller lot sizes. These figures are for use in cluster zoning (where houses are put close together, and a large area of adjacent land is set aside as open space), and do not apply to Harmony's residential zoning districts.
Why this is so important to Preservation: The proposed zoning increase is based on sound technical analysis of the protection of public health and safety. It will also make an enormous difference to the future of Harmony Township. Today Harmony has about 950 houses. The County Strategic Growth Plan projects that if all developable land were built to the limit of zoning (known as "buildout"), about 4000 houses would be added to Harmony Township. The new zoning would decrease this limit by close to 2000 houses!
Hopefully, buildout will not occur here for a very long time. Today, a company called American Developers is planning to build a major subdivision on a lot adjoining Garrison Road and Harmony Station Road (American Developers will present their application to the Land Use Board this Wednesday, 3 November, at the 7:30 PM meeting). Under existing zoning, the applicant is planning about 25 houses on this lot. If the Township Committee adopts the 5 acre zoning ordinance, the American Developers project will be halved to about 12 or 13 houses. This shows the dramatic effect that this zoning change would have on the density and character of development in Harmony.
Why your presence at the December 20 meething is vital: Owners of large residentially zoned lots in Harmony Township (mostly farmers) say that their land will lose value if minimum lot size increases. Naturally, people expecting to lose money will come and protest. We can expect most of these large landowners to attend the Committee meeting on December 20th, and they will be vocal! The Township Committee will hear plenty from this small minority about why the zoning change should not be adopted. The Committee also needs to hear from the majority that supports preservation. Citizen attendance makes a difference.