Steep Slope Law Passes Over Committeewoman's Objections

Chatham Township Committee Member Kathy Abbott did not get any support for her motion to amend a proposed steep slope ordinance Thursday.

Abbott wished to remove a paragraph from the ordinance which allowed single family residences on lots of 25,000 square feet or less to be exempt from disturbances to slopes on their properties.

"That's most single family homes," Abbott said. "You are affecting the way the whole neighborhood looks," and potentially how neighbors are affected by things such as water runoff.

None of the other four members of the committee seconded Abbott's motion.

When it came time to discuss the ordinance as it was drafted, Abbott, Mayor Nicole Hagner, Committee Member Bailey Brower, Administrator Thomas E. Ciccarone and Engineer John Ruschke engaged in more than 20 minutes of back-and-forth discussion.

Ruschke and Ciccarone said the ordinance needed to be passed in order to allow the township's planned sewer project to go forward. The state Department of Environmental Control had rejected the township's existing steep slope ordinance, and Ruschke said, "we added some of their language to our ordinance, and then they were OK with it."

Ciccarone also pointed out that the ordinance was last amended in May 2012 when it passed with an identical provision to the one Abbott opposes (she opposed it then, too.) Over the course of the last year, Ciccarone said, this particular provision had never become an issue.

Ruschke also said the new ordinance provided for more frequent inspections of ongoing constructions to make sure contractors and homeowners were abiding by township steep slope, lot grading and other land use laws, and therefore reduced the risk of violations going unnoticed or unpunished.

"This ordinance is more stringent than the DEP's model ordinance," Hagner said.

"It's not if you have a half-acre lot," Abbott countered. "We don't have a flat town. We have rolling hills. If you are allowed to bulldoze as much as you want you are affecting the way the whole neighborhood looks," and how neighboring residents will be affected by water runoff."

"That's not what this ordinance does," Hagner said. Ciccarone added, "if you're going to disturb more than 1,000 square feet you have to submit a lot grading plan and follow the laws."

Abbott said the lot grading plan was part of a different ordinance, and her concern was for the single-family homes which sit on a half-acre of land.
"I don't see why we have to exempt people. You should go before the zoning board and show a hardship," she said.

"Kathy, you are entitled to your opinions. We don't share them," Brower said after he said the newer ordinances made it easier for homeowners to develop their properties.

The ordinance passed by a 4-1 vote, with Abbott casting the single nay vote.