Lacey will appeal road project denial DEP turned down permit request
By BOB VOSSELLER . STAFF WRITER . May 28, 2009

LACEY - The Township Committee on Thursday night unanimously voted to appeal a decision by the state Department of Environmental Protection that denied the municipality a Coastal Area Facility Review Act permit for a service road project in April. The move comes after more than a month of speculation about whether the committee would take action to continue a 10-year effort to build the bypass road.

The DEP denied a CAFRA permit to the build the road, which would be along about two miles of the former Central Jersey Railroad right of way.

The DEP had denied a CAFRA permit in 2006 also, stating that while the road would alleviate traffic on Route 9, the impact was not significant enough to justify the project and disturbance of the environment.

The recent denial cited 13 factors supporting the rejection, including the three cited in the 2006 decision.

Mayor John C. Parker predicted a favorable outcome.

"We're going to win this time," he said.

Township Attorney George R. Gilmore said that the cost of the appeal will be covered within the $3.2 million bond issue that the township approved for building the road.

However, Helen Henderson, leader of the Lacey Trail Environmental Committee, said: "I am very disappointed in our elected officials. The DEP made the right decision twice. This is throwing good money away. I was hoping they would embrace the idea of open space. Shame on them."

Her citizens group formed to oppose the road when the project was first proposed nearly a decade ago.

Resident asks committee not to file CAFRA appeal
By BOB VOSSELLER, Staff Writer, April 30, 2009

LACEY - Another resident came out to plead with the Township Committee to abandon any plans they may have to appeal a decision made by the State Department of Environmental Protection earlier in the month denying a Coastal Area Facilities Review Act permit for a controversial road project.

The committee has until Monday to file an appeal. The governing body has been in favor of building a road on about two miles of the Central Jersey Railroad Right-of-Way. In 2006 the DEP denied the township a CAFRA permit stating that while the project was acknowledged to alleviate traffic on Route 9, its impact was not considered enough to justify the project and the disturbance of the environment.

The township received word earlier in the month that its second CAFRA permit for an expanded road project had also been turned down.

During an April 9 committee meeting resident Jim Fiumara of Beach Boulevard urged the governing body not to appeal the decision. He pointed out that this time, the DEP had denied the permit for not meeting additional requirements. Last time the permit was denied due to only three areas of policy violation.

It was resident Larry Browning's turn to echo those sentiments during an April 23 committee meeting. "The number of reasons that the permit was turned down was fairly substantial."

Browning added that "at this point in time and in this economy it should not go further. The study commissioned by you states there is no major traffic improvement with this road. The money you could spend on an appeal could be used for other things."

"This is a huge denial. Three of the 13 areas denied were the same three as the last time," Fiumara said during the April 9 meeting. The areas that the township was found not in compliance of coastal management practices concerned the loss of open space that the road project would violate.

Township officials have always maintained that the new road would help alleviate traffic off Route 9. Township Attorney George Gilmore said during the latest meeting that the township's engineering firm of T& M Associates disagrees with the DEP's position about the traffic study data.

"The engineering firm feels it did meet state criteria," Gilmore said.

Browning who said he was never an advocate of the road project, said that the between the money already spent on the project in legal and engineering fees, the added cost of the appeal would not benefit taxpayers.

"All roads bring more cars," resident Jim Hughes said. He expressed that overdevelopment has contributed to traffic congestion.

"I think this is an issue well beyond its end. Quit spending money on this bad project," Fiumara said previously.

No one from the public spoke in support of the committee's filing an appeal during either committee meeting.

"I don't give up easily. We had a referendum where people voted 2 to 1 in favor of building that road," Mayor John C. Parker said earlier in the month. He blamed the strength of environmental groups and Gov. Jon Corzine trying to appease environmentalists for the denial of the CAFRA permit.