JACKSON – Township officials have scheduled a public scoping hearing to obtain comments on a major Green Acres Diversion for the Township’s Jackson Mills Compost Facility and Camp Joy.
Both properties are encumbered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Office of Transactions and Public Land Administration (OTPLA) Green Acres Program.
The parkland diversion is an after-the-fact requirement that involved the diversion of 8.091 acres of parkland for the Jackson Mills Compost Facility (Block 2201, Lot 2) located at 334 Jackson Mills Road, in order to continue the operation of the Compost Facility. The parkland diversion also involves the previous diversion of 0.510 acres of the former Camp Joy (Block 5806, Lot 4), located at the corner of North New Prospect Road and Larsen Road in Jackson.
The hearing will be held at the Jackson Township Municipal Building, 95 West Veterans Highway on August 12 at 6:30 p.m.
A diversion was previously approved by the State House Commission in 1998, to allow for a portion of the Camp Joy parcel to be deeded to the Jackson Board of Education for the construction of Crawford-Rodriguez Elementary School.
After construction was completed, the Green Acres Program identified that a large retaining wall and associated slope stabilization for the school building had been constructed beyond the diversion area approved by the state.
Current township tax maps depict the New Prospect Road right-of-way (County Road) being 60 feet wide (30 feet wide from the centerline), whereas at the time of the original Camp Joy acquisition and 1998 diversion, the right-of-way width was shown as 49.5 ft (24.75 feet from the centerline).
Legalization of the major diversion and compensation associated with the former Camp Joy property will allow for the Crawford Rodriguez Elementary School that is currently operating on the land, to continue to serve as a public education facility and to provide the County with unencumbered public right-of-way for future infrastructure improvements.
Compensation for both the diversion areas is proposed in the form of a land swap that will resolve both the Jackson Mills Compost Facility Diversion and the Camp Joy Diversion by granting Green Acres a total of 43.01 acres of replacement land (based on the 5:1 ratio of 8.601 acres diversion).
Jackson may elect to provide monetary compensation for the diversion areas, at a minimum ratio of 10:1 compensation to the market rate value of the land diverted.
According to a township release, all interested parties are invited to attend and participate in the scoping hearing. Written comments on the proposed disposal should be directed to the Township of Jackson at 732-908-4767, 95 West Veterans Highway, Jackson, NJ 08527, or email engineering@jacksontwpnj.net.
A copy of any comments should be submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Transactions and Public Land Administration, Public Land Compliance Section, 401 East State Street, 7th Floor, Mail Code 401-07, P.O. Box 420, Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0420, Attention: Thoby Jeanty, or to Thoby.Jeanty@dep.nj.gov. Public comment on this diversion request will be accepted during the scoping hearing or until August 26.
