An environmental group and the pastor of a Morristown church damaged by flooding a decade ago rapped the town planning board on Monday, asserting the board should have notified them before approving apartments last week in a Whippany River flood plain.
The board unanimously approved a site plan from Scotto Holdings LLC for a three-story, 15-apartment building at 81-87 Martin Luther King Ave.
A rear portion of the property sits in the flood plain. Earlier in the week, after rain from Hurricane Henri, a stretch of the avenue in front of the tract was submerged.
Tropical Storm Irene caused extensive damage to the church in 2011, and flooded the entire neighborhood. Since then, the church, watershed association and town have partnered on annual river cleanups to remove debris that can exacerbate flooding.
Town officials expressed surprise that the church and watershed committee were unaware of the Scotto plans, which have been discussed at virtual public meetings.
“The MLK project has been on the planning board agenda since April and it is difficult to believe that interested parties had no prior knowledge of the application,” said Council President Stefan Armington, council liaison to the board.
Armington was out of town for the board’s vote last week.
Planning board Chairman Joe Stanley praised the watershed volunteers for their “good work” over the years, and noted the project still needs permits from state Department of Environmental Protection.
“They are the entity that will review the project as it relates to the river area. Based on my professional experience, they are a thorough group and I am confident that they will ensure that the project is constructed in accordance with all of the applicable federal and state regulations or will not issue a permit,” said Stanley, a licensed planner and engineer.
Siva Jonnada, chair of the watershed association, indicated he was aware of the town deliberations.
“While the April meeting briefly discussed flood mitigation, it mostly dealt with design, aesthetics and crawlspace with flood vents which would absorb any rising floodwaters,” he said in the statement.
She raised questions about flood reduction plans and riparian buffers for the MLK project, and whether the board considered imposing conditions for improving the floodway.
Deeb also said the town has not appointed anyone for years to its three seats on the watershed committee.
Mayor Tim Dougherty, who voted for the apartments, said the application met or exceeded all DEP requirements for building them on this private property.
The watershed committee should have been notified, the mayor said, “just so they were comfortable” with the application’s engineering reports.
While he wasn’t sure if Pastor Williams was within the range of legally required notifications, Dougherty said, “as always, the broader the information the better.”
The mayor, a Democrat, is running unopposed for a fourth term.
Williams, a former Republican council candidate, has advocated for affordable housing in the flood plain.
The apartments were approved in a known flood plain area, and the amount of flooding that occurred this week is not remarkable and will recur periodically. Whippany River crests this time were two feet under the floods caused by Irene.
I would like to see the Mayor review this project again. Clearly the flooding issue should be re-evaluated.
Seems like if your name is “Scotto” you get approval for anything.
Oh well, mayor running unopposed, council pretending that they post anything remotely controversial on their PR channel that residents actually read (Facebook), great functioning democracy we’ve got here. Certainly no bad actors just passing through town, making a buck and letting the next generation deal with their corrupt mess.
Key area to watch as today’s rain continues to fall..