JACKSON – Council President Mordechai Burnstein reported some progress on the Rova Farms recreation project, a topic that many residents have been eager to see move forward.
He reported that a meeting of the Rova Farms Committee had been held recently. “It was actually one of our more well attended meetings with the new engineer who updated the team on the status of the submissions and he gave us a commitment for everything that would have to be submitted.”
The project concerns open space property that was purchased years ago and proposed to be revitalized to be used for passive and active recreational purposes. The property has a significant historical legacy for the township and once housed a nightclub tavern where Bruce Springsteen performed during the early days of his career. That structure had to be torn down as part of the restoration project.
Since it’s in an environmentally sensitive area, more care and permits are required for work being done.
Burnstein noted that a bill for $2,885 was added on to the list of bills to be paid at a recent Township Council meeting. This is “a check from the town to the Ocean County Soil Conservation District. The business administrator (Charles Terefenko) signed the paperwork today so we can reach out to the engineer and we can submit it to DEP (NJ Department of Environmental Protection), to Ocean County Soils, and to Ocean County Planning Board so we can finally move it to the next step.”
Burnstein said for “the residents who have been waiting for this for many, many years, we apologize and we are going to continue to keep our foot on the gas and try and move it forward.”
Land Use Updates
Burnstein provided some other project updates noting that Council Vice President Giuseppe Palmeri and Councilman Chris Pollack had been working on ordinances pertaining to warehouses. “I had the opportunity to speak to our attorney (Gregory McGuckin) and our engineer this week. I got an email with some of the ideas we’re working on to try to better protect some of the surrounding areas of the warehouses are located or are going to be located potentially in Jackson.”
He added that buffer zones might be employed. “I am hoping to have a draft ordinance by the end of this week to get it over to the council and to go from there.”
The council president said he also spoke with the council about a stormwater ordinance that had been put on hold. “I do believe it is a very big issue. We are continuing to see more and more flooding within some of our neighborhoods as some people make additions and lose some of the impervious coverage. I would like to introduce it this year because I do think it is something important.”
Impervious coverage describes how much of a property is covered by a building, or asphalt, or something else that doesn’t allow rain to filter into the soil. The rain has to go somewhere, which is usually the street.
“I think it will help some of our higher density neighborhoods in town so we will be moving forward on that,” Burnstein added.
