Stagecoach Road water tower hearing postponed again

Written by Columb Higgins Tuesday, 07 February 2012 11:30

PALERMO – New Jersey American Water Company has again pulled an application for a water tower on Stagecoach Road in Palermo that was set to go before the Upper Township zoning board this week.

Richard G. Barnes, external affairs manager for New Jersey American Water, said in an email that the company would not appear before the zoning board in February but that the water tower proposal has not been withdrawn.

There was some confusion over whether the company had permanently pulled its application for the water tower and was seeking a different site. Mayor Richard Palombo said he received an email from the company last week stating that the Stagecoach Road site was no longer being considered. A later email said the current zoning board application would continue, he said.

“I pulled up the first email just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things,” said Palombo. “They said the application was being pulled and they wanted to consider other sites. Now they say it’s only been temporarily pulled from the zoning board agenda and that it could come back.

“They apologized for the confusion and said they are still considering all their options,” he added.

The water company has proposed a 158-foot tall water tower on the 1300 block of Stagecoach Road. In early January, homeowners who live within 200 feet of the property received a notification in the mail of New Jersey American Water’s plans to seek zoning variances to build the water tower.

New Jersey American Water is seeking a preliminary and final major site plan approval, a height variance and conditional use approval since the lot is in a residential zone. The company also needed a variance for a six-foot high chain link fence with three strands of barbed wire.

The proposed height of the water tower, at 158 feet tall, is more than four times as tall as zoning allows.

The water tower is planned for a property between 1316 and 1318 on Stagecoach Road, adjacent to a former horse ranch and a campground.

Residents immediately began voicing opposition to the tower, posting handmade “No Water Tower” signs on their property and holding town hall meetings to organize opposition.

The Upper Township Zoning Board of Adjustments was originally scheduled to meet on Thursday, Jan. 12 in Township Hall to discuss the water tower. The proposal was then moved to the zoning board’s Feb. 9 meeting. It is not clear when the application will be scheduled now.

Frank Conrad, a former Upper Township committeeman and Palermo resident, said a group of 70 residents has formed to oppose the water tower. The group has hired an attorney to represent them and is looking at retaining engineers and other professionals, he said.

“This is not the right location,” said Conrad. “The Master Plan says these kinds of things should go in the designated town centers, not a residential neighborhood. The state pushed us in that direction too. To have a company come in and put a water tower in a residential neighborhood just because they want to do it on the cheap isn’t right.”

Conrad said the group has identified four other sites in Marmora and Seaville where the water tower would be better situated. Three of the four sites don’t have residents within 2,000 feet, he said.

“Two of them are near the Acme in the Cedar Square Shopping Center,” said Conrad. “Those stores need water. Some of those places can’t drill wells for water. The perfect situation would be to have it near Exit 20 and have a full interchange there.”

Palombo said he can’t discuss specifics of the water tower application because it is going before the zoning board. But he said there is the potential for the water tower to become “an icon, not an eyesore” if it is built in the right place.

In a prior email, Barnes said the proposed “water tank would provide the area with improved fire flow, maintain water pressure in the summer months, and increase normal water pressure.”

Upper Township does not have any water storage facilities at the current time, he said.