To Build, or Not to Build.

The 36 acres of land proposed for development just north of Route 22 and Foothill Road in Bridgewater is an athlete’s stone’s throw away from the Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School.  (Some of this Township’s longer-term residents may remember it as the former Bridgewater-Raritan High School East.)

Bridgewater residents Robert Vaucher (foreground)

 and Jeffrey Brookner — Attorney for 'Stop-18-Homes' —

listen to testimony at the June 25, 2012,

Planning Board Meeting at the Bridgewater

Municipal Complex. (Bergeron Image.)

Tonight, there will be another meeting of the Planning Board at 7:00 pm in the Township Municipal Complex to continue a discussion about the eventual fate of those 36 acres.  They were originally owned by John Wemple, whose wish it was that they remain passive as green space.

That piece of property presents an interesting dilemma, because it raises the fundamental question of what constitutes the highest and best use of land within a community – a question which can reasonably be debated from a technical, aesthetic, environmental and societal point of view. 

However, what has been discussed so far at the meetings at which I have been in attendance seems to have concentrated mainly with satisfying the proposal’s technical aspects; that is, the strictly interpreted code requirements of both Bridgewater Township, as well as those of the State of New Jersey. 

But nothing in life is all that simple – and this project might be one such example.

Some of the existing homes directly affected by the applicant’s proposal for site development – as well as the 36-acre parcel itself – are bounded by Foothill Road to the south and Steele Gap Road to the east.  Twin Oaks Road defines the western and northern boundaries.  Other homes sit nearby and would also be affected by development.

Steele Gap becomes precipitously steep and has a narrow and hazardous turning point where it intersects with Twin Oaks on its way to Mountain Top Road.  Although shorter, it is reminiscent of one of those mountain passes which I have encountered on business trips to the West Coast.

To build, or not to build:  How did one man’s desire to keep a corner of Bridgewater green go so wrong?

(Click on the image for an enhanced view.)