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Judge Backs Delbarton Plan For Retirement Project
An environmental group called it illegal spot zoning, but a judge in Morristown disagreed yesterday, upholding a zoning change in Morris Township that allows a group of monks to build a $100 million retirement community on their 386-acre Delbarton School campus.
"Was there a rational reason for why they (the township) did this? Yes," Superior Court Judge Theodore Bozonelis said.
"It (the zoning change) promotes the general welfare. It clearly promotes the preservation of open space. It promotes a desirable visual environment and it encourages appropriate housing for the elderly," the judge said, noting the change also protects the character of the area -- the environmentally sensitive and historic Washington Valley.
The battle in the judge's courtroom pitted the township and the Benedictine monks of St. Mary's Abbey against the Great Swamp Watershed Association, an environmental group, and three township residents.
At stake were the monks' plans to build the retirement community on 41 acres and the zoning change approved Sept. 4, 2002, that allows the project to be built there.
The complex would include 200 apartment-style, independent-living units and 40 independent-living cottages, 48 nursing home beds and 24 assisted-living beds. The plans also include school athletic fields on 30 acres and the permanent preservation of 100 acres.
Had the township not changed the zoning, the monks said they would have pursued what was allowable under prior zoning -- a 38-home development on 161 acres.
The monks say the project will generate the money needed to care for the aging religious order. The association says the project will pave the way for suburban sprawl.
Taking the township and monks to court, the association contended the township committee's zoning change was counter to years of township decisions seeking to protect the valley. The change was the product of poor planning and illegal spot zoning to benefit a single property owner, it claimed.
Another concern was one of Delbarton's neighbors, the 1,320-acre Jockey Hollow National Park, where thousands of George Washington's soldiers camped during the winter of 1779-80. The National Park Service opposes the retirement community, saying it will ruin visitors' visual experiences and damage cultural resources.
But Bozonelis
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contended the change followed years of thoughtful discussions, meetings and public hearings beginning in 1996 and focusing on the needs of senior citizens. To prove spot zoning, the association had to show the township disregarded the general welfare of the public and what was appropriate for the land.
That didn't happen, the judge said, noting the plans call for sizable buffer zones and land conservation -- which benefits the park and neighbors -- while tucking the development away on the campus.
But Bozonelis also said the township and monks must carefully plan for the construction phase to minimize impacts on neighbors and the area.
Township Mayor Jan Wotowicz said, "We are proud and happy to be totally vindicated. This was a frivolous lawsuit and we are looking into a countersuit to recover the expenses involved in defending ourselves."
Dennis Kearney, the monks' attorney, said, "The township did its homework and what the judge recognized was reasonable minds can differ, but nothing unreasonable happened here."
But Julia Somers, executive director of the Great Swamp Watershed Association, said the battle is not over. She and Morristown National Historical Park Superintendent Michael Henderson said they were disappointed by the ruling.
"We knew we had a very heavy lift, but we felt we made a very good case," Somers said. "This is not the end of the process. There are still many hurdles before any development can go forward."
The monks still need approvals from the state Department of Environmental Protection and township before any work can begin.
By Bill Swayze
Star-Ledger - 11/7/2003
Topic: Highlands
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