Patrick Farm development would damage water source
September 24, 2010
Community View in The Journal News by Jeffrey L. Genser
The Ramapo Planning Board is deciding whether to approve an immense residential development on a 206-acre parcel of land known as Patrick Farm.
The site sits atop a critical component of the Ramapo River Basin, designated a sole source aquifer by the Environmental Protection Agency.
I believe that the Rockland County Legislature should begin the act of taking Patrick Farm by using eminent domain law.
An Aug. 8, 1992, the EPA action notice addresses the importance of the Ramapo aquifer systems: “As a sole source aquifer there are no viable alternative drinking water sources of sufficient supply; and if contamination were to occur, it would pose a significant hazard to the public health.”
EPA action notices are created for good reason — to alert communities about the necessary environmental steps needed to preserve natural resources. Since the action notices, though, are not federal law, I strongly suggest that the Rockland County Legislature act immediately before destruction of this critical component of this sole source aquifer can occur.
Given the Ramapo Planning Board’s proclivity for allowing development beyond what zoning codes mandate, this project could get the green light at the board’s next meeting, at 8 p.m. Oct. 25. The project proposes almost 500 units of housing on the site, including 87 single-family homes and 410 multifamily units. The property is zoned for single-family homes on 1-acre plots.
There are many other reasons to deny approval, but the irreplaceable natural water resource trumps them all. If we fail to protect our aquifer, residents of Rockland County, and Bergen and Passaic counties in New Jersey, will forever be negatively impacted. Imagine the negative impact on the quality of this precious water resource if a development of this size goes through.
EPA action notices are recommendations to local governments, but not laws. The Rockland County Legislature should examine how to change current laws that allow local villages and towns to make development decisions that impact water supplies beyond their borders.
The Rockland County Legislature should act prudently by following EPA guidelines contained in the action notices, which recommend sole source aquifers be protected from any development.
The action the Legislature can take now?
Use eminent domain proceedings on Patrick Farm to protect and preserve the headwaters of the Mahwah River.
The developers’ environmental impact statement must clearly be seen as flawed, as it determined development of the property over this sole source aquifer would not impact this unique, irreplaceable natural water resource.
The Legislature has a moral and a fiduciary duty to protect this shared sole source aquifer for the present and future generations.
Jeffrey L. Genser
Suffern, New York
Read the Aug. 28, 1992 EPA Action Notice: Federal Register Notice
Sole Source Aquifer Determination for the Ramapo Aquifer Systems in New Jersey & New York.