Middle Township ignores Cape May Refuge

Written by Opinion Thursday, 28 July 2011 00:00

To the editor:

Since 2009, the American Littoral Society has sought to meaningfully participate in Middle Township’s master plan process out of growing concern for the rapid loss of open space within the township and its impact on the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge and the quality of life of local residents. The federal refuge represents all Americans, and because the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is prohibited from advocating on its own behalf, it’s up to the public and groups like the Littoral Society to protect and defend it when local officials refuse to recognize its value, both environmentally and economically. When township officials routinely ignore their own resident’s demands to see areas approved for future refuge expansion excluded from growth centers, it’s no wonder why the society in addition to19 other environmental groups are urging the public to speak out.

The Littoral Society decided to participate early-on in the master plan process in hopes of working cooperatively with the township in creating a plan that would avoid the kind of major environmental conflicts which have plagued the township in the past. Unfortunately, instead of engaging in conversation about critical issues, the township has repeatedly sought to exclude us from this process, misrepresent our position and the facts.

When we presented our analysis of the township’s proposed future growth and development at the master plan hearing on July 6, township staff accused us of making “gross mischaracterizations,” stating that the analysis was “wrong because the growth called for by the town’s plan wouldn’t be instantaneous.” The officials from the township seem to forget that in New Jersey zoning is destiny. Whether the 5,000 more houses and 11,624 more residents (a 70 percent increase in population) called for under the town’s plan occurs overnight or over the next 15 years, it doesn’t make it any more acceptable when the end result is the same.

The amount of future growth and the demand it will place on already overstressed water supplies is completely unsustainable, and local residents need to question whether town officials have seriously considered the implications and impacts that such development and destruction of open spaces will have on the community’s character, traffic, water supply, and natural resources of international importance.

Middle Township officials are telling residents they shouldn’t worry about future growth policies (and overdevelopment) within the community because past levels of growth were no big deal and occurred in growth centers. However, the town’s own reexamination report of May 2010 states that “the township’s housing growth rate between 2000 and 2008 was a 22 percent [increase] compared with the rest of the state which saw only 6 percent over the same period.” The report also reveals how over the past 10 years the township lost over 33 percent of its vacant, largely forested land as well as more than 50 percent of its remaining farms to development.

Local officials don’t seem bothered by such staggering losses of open space and farmland and have devised a plan that calls for developing nearly as much land outside the growth centers (over 950 acres) as it does inside them (over 1,000 acres). Indeed, the township only has about 3,500 acres of unprotected upland forest and farmland left, and the proposed master plan calls for developing most of it.

The Cape May Refuge serves as the backbone for a locally based wildlife watching industry, which a recent study by the Atlantic Cape Community College determined generates over $522 million annually in the county. Indeed, the presence of the refuge has an enormous positive impact on resident’s quality of life; from increasing home values to keeping the countryside green and within walking distance of most neighborhoods within the township. Unfortunately, the refuge has only acquired 11,500 acres of the more than 20,000 Congress deemed necessary to achieving its habitat and wildlife protection priorities. Therefore, its ultimate success depends on proactive support of municipalities like Middle and Upper Townships where the vast majority of remaining unprotected lands are located.

Middle residents and refuge advocates need to speak out at the last public hearing on Aug. 1 at 6 p.m. at the township municipal building or risk seeing what remains of the township’s countryside and forests buried under more costly, water-polluting sprawl.

Visit www.littoralsociety.org for more information. To view the 2010 master plan reexamination report, visit the Middle Township website at www.middletownship.com. Click on 2010 draft master plan reports on the left hand margin.

Matt Blake, Manager

Delaware Bayshore Program

American Littoral Society