Morris Township residents wary of sewer connection to Harding housing development

By Michael Lovito

Local politicians are used to taking slings and arrows from their own residents at public meetings. But on Wednesday night, the Morris Township Committee had the pleasure of hearing their constituents aim most of their ire at leadership of a neighboring town instead.

Nine Township residents expressed their concern about Harding’s plans to fill its fourth round of state-mandated affordable housing obligations by building 54 units on a seven-acre lot at the corner of Woodland Avenue and Kitchell Road, on the border of Morris Township.

In addition to the site’s location, some residents also were rankled by the possibility of Morris Township providing sewer services for the project.

As explained by Township administrator Tim Quinn, Morris Township has provided sewer services to sections of Harding since 1976.

Once the ordinance making the Kitchell project possible was approved by the Harding Township Committee, it sought the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) approval of an amendment to a water quality management plan (WQMP) that confirmed the project would be connected to Morris Township’s sewer system.

Quinn says Morris Township asked the DEP to delay publishing the amendment until both municipalities could discuss the change, but that DEP indicated that “municipal consent, although requested, was not required,” and that department had been advised to “expedite” such amendments concerning affordable housing sites.

“Regardless of the Township’s position” on the location of the Kitchell project, Quinn said Morris Township came to an agreement with Harding about the WQMP to “protect the Township’s interests, both legally and financially.”

This agreement was authorized by the Township committee at a meeting on July 16, 2026, and formally adopted by the committee on Aug. 21.

“At this time, there is nothing for the Township to do,” Quinn said of the situation. The Kitchell project still needs to be approved by the Harding planning board, and Quinn said the township could “address our concerns” with the project at the planning board’s public hearing.

He also clarified that Morris Township would not officially approve a sewer connection to the Kitchell site until the Harding planning board approves the application.

SUPPORT AND SKEPTICISM

Not all residents were mollified by Quinn’s description of events.

“I want to address what I consider to be secret negotiations conducted with the equestrian plutocrats out of New Vernon,” resident Kenneth Merin said during public comment, referring to the upscale Harding neighborhood.

“As far as I’m concerned, while Harding Township willfully withheld the municipal land use requirement of a 200-foot notice from me, who lives barely 100 feet away from this property, you guys were engaged in, for all intents and purposes, secret negotiations. I want a commitment that there will be a roll call vote on (the amended sewer plans), and I’ll give you my commitment that anybody who votes in favor of that should be thrown off the Township committee.”

Other residents saw the committee as allies in the fight against the development.

“We just want to let you know that we’re on your side. We’re not your enemy,” Don Rinaldi, who claimed credit for “discovering” that Harding did not provide he and his neighbors with proper notice of the development, said.

“Harding has 34 acres available for affordable housing in the middle of Harding. It has sewer service right in front of it. But for some reason, Harding doesn’t want this built in their town. They want it in our town. All Harding has done is exclude their affordable housing residents from living in their town.”

The 34-acre parcel Rinaldi referred to is currently the subject of a lawsuit brought against Harding by GHK Realty LLC, which proposed an affordable housing project for that site.

Given that Harding failed to notify Morris Township residents about the hearing for the Kitchell site, GHK has argued that Harding’s affordable housing plan is invalid, a predicament that GHK proposes to solve via the “builder’s remedy” — constructing its project instead.

Greg Coffey, a Morris Township resident and attorney, agreed that the Kitchell development should be considered invalid.

Harding “picked the Woodland Road property as their last resort, and they had to use it because they knew that that was the only property in Harding they could assert had (sewer) connectivity,” Coffey said. “We’re asking you to see through that.”

Debbie Martin, who said she attended the Harding Township Committee meeting where the ordinance making the Kitchell development possible was approved, agreed that the neighboring municipality was ignoring Morris Township residents, but also called on the committee to stick up for its constituents.

“We brought the same things up to Harding. Harding answered and did nothing and just voted the way they wanted to vote,” Martin said. “So, I just want you to take care of your taxpayers, to take care of your residents. I plead with you as the Township committee to do what you can for us.”

Martin, who lives in the Moore Estate community, also expressed concerns about the development’s effect on storm runoff.

“Our condo association just paid significant money to put more new storm drains behind where we live to handle the water that runs down Kitchell,” Martin said. “If they build on that corner, they rip up all those trees, and they haven’t done the right catch basins, can you imagine the type of flooding and water that we Morris Township residents are going to have on our end?”

HARD(ING) CHOICES

While the committee members seemed to sympathize with residents’ plight, they also emphasized that, given the project’s location in Harding and the strict nature of state affordable housing requirements, their hands were more or less tied.

“If we vote no (on the sewer connection) we will be sued. And when we are sued, that’s going to cost the taxpayers money,” Committee member Jeff Grayzel said. “So, we have to be very judicious because we want to protect you and everybody else in Morris Township, but we also have to protect the finances.”

Grayzel also suggested that some residents’ frustration may be misdirected.

“Although you’re mad at us and you’re mad at Harding, you should also be mad at the state legislators who put these rules in place the way they were,” Grayzel said.

“We need affordable housing, but to allow affordable housing to be built without consideration for a lot of things like traffic and school capacity and other issues, I think, is a failure of poor planning and not allowing the municipalities to plan properly.”

Mayor Donna Guariglia was a little blunter in her assessment of the situation, referring to Harding as a “bad actor,” especially compared to what she believes is Morris Township’s more responsible approach to affordable housing development.

“I’ve heard residents say, ‘everybody’s putting their affordable housing on the border, we should do that,’” Guariglia said. “We did not do that, and we made decisions that were hard, and they will continue to be hard.”

Also hard, Guarigilia said, will be pulling off any attempts to stop the Kitchell development.

“I heard a couple of people come up and say, ‘well, can’t you stop the project?,’” Guarigilia said. “It’s a Harding project. To be honest, that’s going to be hard to do. But we will do everything we can to make sure that our residents are served in the best way possible under the premise of what we can do.”

But some residents, like Merin, still expect the committee to fight tooth and nail to prevent the project from going forward.

“I have an interior condominium unit, and I pay almost $16,000 a year in property taxes to Morris Township,” Merin said. “But I would rather pay more taxes than have you just roll over for fear of having legal bills.”