Dear Friend,
The outrage is growing in Upper Saddle River over the environmental catastrophe the Apple Ridge development is inflicting on our community. Equally outrageous is the refusal of our local government to share information with the public.
In fact, if Thursday night’s mayor and council meeting is any indication, as the mayor and council scramble to cover up their gross mishandling of this project for the past 720 days, it seems that they are actually more concerned with harassing and intimidating the citizens who are trying to shed light on this issue than protecting those citizens from the arsenic, lead and other toxins the project is dumping into our water and soil.
At Thursday’s night council meeting, representatives from the town engineering firm, Boswell Engineering, and the Apple Ridge property developers, Toll Brothers, were in attendance. Toll Brothers admitted that it was their responsibility to remediate the portion of Pleasant Brook that runs across the Apple Ridge property (now renamed “Orchard Ridge”), but otherwise, according to the discussion at the meeting, it is nobody’s responsibility—not local government, not Boswell Engineering, not Toll Brothers– to fix or clean up this mess.
The original plan for Apple Ridge was to remediate one acre at a time, test the soil, and move on to the next acre. Instead, Boswell Engineering– with the approval of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection– allowed Toll Brothers to cut down 566 trees, remove all the sod and remediate all 100 acres at once. You do not need to be an expert in engineering, construction or environmental science to know the severe risks posed by this plan.
Our question is, why?
Why did they deviate from the original plan to remediate one acre at a time?
Why did Toll Brothers need to move so much more aggressively?
Why did Boswell and the NJDEP approve the change in plan?
Our elected officials, the property developers and the engineers are now blaming the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Our question is, why weren’t they paying attention as it was happening and stop it?
In even more disturbing news, the town attorney dispatched the Upper Saddle River police to “question” a resident who has been very publicly and vocally critical of the mayor and council’s gross mishandling of the Apple Ridge/Orchard Ridge and One Lake Street developments.
Do we have to tell you that you deserve better? It is your right to demand respect and accountability from government. It is your right to know the truth. It is your right to be able to speak out against our government without the fear of harassment or intimidation. That such tactics are being deployed by our local government is shameful.
The mayor and council have a lot of explaining to do, and we want you to know that you can count on us to keep asking the questions until we get answers for you.
Fortunately, the tax payers of Upper Saddle River do not have to put up with this much longer. This November, you have the opportunity to elect new leadership who will take responsibility for cleaning up the environmental mess, who are committed to transparency and accountability in government, and who will fight every day for you and your families and your quality of life, and for the future generations of Upper Saddle River.
Thank you,
Marshall Grupp for USR Mayor
Marc Garbar, Leandra Galasso, for USR Borough Council
Toll Brothers Upper Saddle River Environmental Catastrophe: Grupp, Garbar, Galasso Response
The continued environmental destruction by Toll Brothers has brought a pointed response about the entire mess from Marshall Grupp for USR Mayor, Marc Garbar, Leandra Galasso, for USR Borough Council. This ongoing disaster is affecting the entire Upper Saddle River community, and the water supplies of surrounding areas and will have seriously long lasting consequences. With a mayor and council who are not representing the community they were elected to serve, and an election coming up this response is essential reading.