Farming Lawsuit Heads to Court Tuesday
Plaintiffs wish to add a charge to the lawsuit, but need a judge's ruling.
Farming Ordinance
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Monday, September 10, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Farming Lawsuit Headed to Pretrial Conference
Residents suing township over market garden ordinance that allows some property owners to grow and sell produce off-site with the municipality's approval.
Chatham Township Attorney Carl Woodward said a pretrial conference date has been set through the Morris County Superior Court for a lawsuit over the market garden ordinance. The pretrial conference will take place Sept. 11. Woodward said he expects a schedule for the lawsuit will be set at the conference. Typically, he said, "the judge will set the schedule to complete discovery, set up a briefing schedule and a trial date." Woodward said at a Chatham Township Committee meeting in June that the trial would likely be "very short" and could take only a single day. The lawsuit over the market garden ordinance, which passed the Chatham Township Committee in April by a vote of 3-2, was filed by nine residents of the township's Green Village …
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
Township Approves Market Garden Ordinance
Qualifying residents can apply to the Planning Board for permission to grow produce and sell it off-site.
The Chatham Township Committee voted 3-1 Thursday to approve and adopt an ordinance permitting market gardens on qualifying residential lots. Committee Member Robert Gallop missed the vote, and Committee Member Kevin Tubbs cast the sole dissenting vote. The committee shifted the order of the agenda to accommodate the schedules of Gallop and Tubbs. Gallop was present at the start of the meeting, but left to make a presentation to the county at about 8 p.m. Tubbs was unavailable to attend in person, but was reached on speakerphone at about 8:45 p.m. When the discussion of the ordinance began, Township Attorney Carl Woodward said he realized the Rolling Knolls Superfund Site could qualify. He suggested the committee may want to delay passing …
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Rich
2:18 pm on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Great! The Township lost yet again. Can't beat that success ratio! more ›
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Market Garden Ordinance Up for Final Adoption
Controversial ordinance could be settled Thursday.
More than a year after the issue first came before the Chatham Township Committee, the market garden ordinance comes up for final adoption Thursday. The ordinance passed by a vote of 3-1 at the March 8 committee meeting, with Committee Memeber Robert Gallop casting the sole dissenting vote. Committee Member Kevin Tubbs, who previously indicated he would not support the ordinance, was absent from the meeting. After the vote, the ordinance was sent back to the Chatham Township Planning Board on the advice of Attorney Carl Woodward. The board's role is to determine if the ordinance is consistent with the township's Master Plan. Woodward said the committee made numerous changes to the ordinance after the Planning Board approved it in January, …
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Rich
11:15 am on Friday, April 27, 2012
Dave, I know you vegheads think I am superman and somehow do everything in this Township, but alas I am just a man who happens to have a sinus infection. Fortunately, several members of our community were there to speak out against this ridiculous Ordinance. All my statements are completely true and if they weren't than you know that I would have been sued by now. Instead, you weirdos run around … more ›
Monday, March 19, 2012
Market Gardens 'Not Inconsistent' with Master Plan
The Planning Board had no further changes to make to the ordinance.
The Chatham Township Planning Board, by a vote of 7-2 with one abstention, has sent the market garden ordinance to the Chatham Township Committee without changes. Board Attorney William Robertson will draft a letter saying the ordinance is "not inconsistent" with the township's Master Plan. Township Administrator Tom Ciccarone abstained from voting. This brings the ordinance, which allows produce grown on applicable residential lots to be sold for profit, one step closer to final approval after more than a year of debate and controversy. If the ordinance passes, property owners who wish to participate must meet certain qualifications and apply to the Planning Board for permission to have market gardens as a conditional use. The ordinance …
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Planning Bd. to Review Market Garden Law
The committee sent the ordinance back to the board after it passed at first reading.
The Planning Board of Chatham Township will discuss changes to the market garden ordinance made when the ordinance was before the township committee. Committee members passed the ordinance at the first reading, with changes made over the course of two meetings, with a vote of 3-1. Committee Member Robert Gallop cast the sole dissenting vote. Some of the changes made to the ordinance since the Planning Board last saw it are: Because of the large number of changes made to the ordinance since the Chatham Township Planning Board first approved it in January, Township Attorney Carl Woodward said "it should go back" to the board for their approval once more. Mayor Nicole Hagner said she would ask the Planning Board chairwoman, Lydia Chambers, to…
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Market Garden Ordinance Goes Back to Committee
Residents heatedly comment on the draft ordinance that would allow small-scale, for-profit farming on certain properties in Chatham Township.
A controversial draft ordinance that would allow market gardening under conditional use on certain properties in Chatham Township’s R-1 district has been revised and sent back to the Chatham Township Committee by the township Planning Board, bringing the ordinance a step closer to being submitted for passage into law. A heated topic for months, the proposed ordinance was not seen by the Planning Board to have any inconsistencies with the township’s Master Plan as of yet, which protects both the predominant single-family homes throughout the township, as well as what little farmland the township has left. Still, the township has found it difficult to have residents agree to a compromise on the issue, despite its best efforts. “I’m trying to…
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Rich
1:19 pm on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The R1 district includes something called an EPA Superfund Site. Good job planning board! These videos contain excellent information on this whole issue. http://youtu.be/jdNZ38hl4XE http://youtu.be/3OIEPDLaCsA more ›
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Township Unveils Draft Farming Ordinance
'Market gardens' would be permitted as conditional use under ordinance.
Chatham Township released a draft of the proposed farming ordinance Wednesday. The draft proposes adding "market gardens" as a permitted conditional use under the Land Development code. By making market gardens a conditional use in the township, Mayor Nicole Hagner said the town "would [have] flexibility in the areas which are generally residential for special uses like this." Churches and cell towers, Hagner said, are other conditional uses permitted in town. While the ordinance applies to all of Chatham Township, the ordinance specifically mentions "the presence of sufficient available land within certain portions of ... the Green Village area." The township also has other functioning farms within its borders, and owners are prohibited …
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Brian Rutter
2:03 pm on Thursday, November 17, 2011
In watching this issue, I have seen a tremendous amount of emotionalism without any basis to support it. We see a web site called Save Green Village, and we are told that this is a "big risk". Okay, fine. Just what is the threat that is so dire that it actually threatens Green Village? That some guy with 8 acres of land on two parcels wants to grow fruit and vegetables and sell them? Seriously? … more ›
Friday, October 28, 2011
Committee Recommends Farming as Conditional Use [VIDEO]
Subcommittee submits three options for planning board to consider.
After lengthy discussion and numerous public comments at the Thursday night meeting, the Chatham Township Committee decided to send an ordinance adding farming as a conditional use to certain residential zones to the Planning Board for review. Mayor Nicole Hagner and Deputy Mayor Robert Gallop examined options for allowing farming. The township does not currently zone for farming, though plots of land more than 5 acres are permitted to have farm animals. Hagner said she and Gallop came up with three options the committee could pursue for allowing farming in the township. The first, she said, was to do nothing and require anyone wishing to farm to get a variance from the Zoning Board. The second would be to allow any residence to grow …
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Farming, Paving Up for Discussion Thursday
The Chatham Township Committee meets Thursday.
The Chatham Township Committee plans to discuss the paving of Crestwood Drive and a potential farming or market garden ordinance. A subcommittee of two committee members, Mayor Nicole Hagner and Committee Member Bob Gallop, met over the summer to discuss potential ways to allow small family farms in the township. Hagner said farming could be deemed a "potential use, which would allow people to have a farm or garden as long as it meets the regulations we set forth, or a conditional use. ... Or else you would need a variance." All options will be discussed at the meeting, Hagner said, with time permitting. Paving on Crestwood The committee will also discuss their plans to pave Crestwood Drive, which begins off of Lafayette Avenue near …
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GarageRock
12:57 pm on Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Seems to me that "Citizens Against Ordinance 2012-05" are the ones wasting money. Stop the NIMBY mentality and stop harassing your neighbors. All this because you don't like how one person wants to use their own land...how disturbing. more ›