Upper Saddle River – Toll Brothers and Aesthetic Water

Thursday August 15 was a busy day for Upper Saddle River. And once again it was thanks to Toll Brothers

Thanks to the vigilance of citizen activists who have worked tirelessly to protect Upper Saddle River in the disastrous toxic mess caused by Toll Brothers this envious address was in the news. But not for the right reasons. CBS New York travelled out to Upper Saddle River to observe and report on the ongoing mess. How interesting that Toll Brothers wouldn’t appear on camera. Don’t their PR department know that isn’t a good sign?

Meanwhile in Upper Saddle River the Stop Work Order on Toll Brothers at The Preserve / Apple Ridge / Orchard Ridge (Mahwah) and One Lake Street has partially been lifted.

In a late day Swift 911  Upper Saddle River administration sent out an update on what has been happening. In keeping with the Upper Saddle River council’s habit of making things less than easy for residents  to find it is also buried deep on the town website. It’s there, you just have to hunt, along with many other things. Transparency, not a word you find used a lot in this town.

However, it is reassuring to know that the town has:

coordinated with multiple regulatory agencies from the county and state and new protocols have been added to reduce the potential for future problems at these sites.

Hopefully this coordinated effort is a sign the mayor and council are actually doing something, and finally paying attention.

It also says:

The Borough also contacted representatives from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to discuss specific concerns associated with discolored water exiting the former Apple Ridge Golf Course property following major rainstorms. While the Borough has been informed there is no health concern, it is a continuing aesthetic issue.

Aesthetic issue?! 

Such a seriously odd choice of words. Exactly when did toxins – however diluted – in water become an issue of aesthetics?

Continuing on:

Representative from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) have again assured the Borough the discolored water which exited this site, at no point during the two-year tenure of this project, ever constituted a health concern for the residents of this community………….While the NJDEP has indicated that surface water standards are significantly different than drinking water standards, all 88 samples secured are within NJ drinking water standards and the remaining 2 are within federal drinking standards and were taken during heavy storm events.

It is reassuring to know that the water is safe, maybe even drinkable for wildlife, or will they be sporting cauliflower growths in the next year or two? Will it be safe for adventurous children to play in? Enter at your own risk.

In this report the town has again stated that independent water testing has been occurring, and is ongoing, to ensure the quality of the water is safe. The results are there on the website, if you can find them.

This is all wonderful, except why has this been allowed to continue for so long unchecked? Why has this behemoth of a developer who has grabbed land in the town had no continued monitoring and oversight? The town and the borough engineer, Boswell Engineering, will have you believe otherwise. But if that is so then why wasn’t there a stop work order earlier? Or some fines? Anything?

In case these points drift away just consider the fact that if a resident drains pool water onto a street it is fineable. Or if a resident engages in some remodeling there are strict requirements to ensure you don’t abuse your neighbors. From the Upper Saddle River Borough Road Regulations:

§ 122-18Drainage facilities required.

A. 

A person erecting a residential, business or industrial structure on land abutting on a Borough road shall provide adequate drainage facilities, approved by the Engineer, to prevent surface and other waters from flowing from the buildings and improvements on the land to the Borough road.

B. 

A person changing the contour of land adjacent to a Borough road which causes an increased or concentrated flow of surface water to run from the land to the Borough road shall provide adequate drainage facilities, approved by the Borough Engineer, to prevent the surface water from flowing onto the road.

This is just one example of the flouting of borough regulations that Toll Brothers has been allowed to continue unchecked. For months. In fact 2 years and counting.

Have they been fined? Good luck trying to find that out. Following the recent stop work order they have had to pay into an escrow account, but that isn’t the same thing. Money is banked for a reason. That isn’t a fine.

However, if any resident fails to respect any of the codes there will be a fine. Patios built with no permits, trees cut with no permits, properties that are overgrown. These will all result in a visit or letter from an official. With a fine.

But Toll Brothers? Who knows?

But with an election coming it is good to see that the mayor and council are finally fulfilling some of their municipal duties and protecting the town and the residents. They even said so in their latest update.

But why has it taken so long?

Hint……there’s an election coming.