Reminder: Comments on NJ DEP's Wastewater Management Plan Due Aug. 8

The New Jersey DEP has extended the comment period to Monday, August 8 for those wishing to submit an opinion on the proposed Wastewater Management Plan (WMP) for Monmouth County. 

It is an extension from the June 21 date, which some felt was not enough time to react to such a potentially significant change in Holmdel's future. 

"We extended the comment period at the request of local officials," said NJDEP spokesman Larry Ragonese on Monday.  "We know not everyone had a chance to talk at the hearing," he said, referring to a well-attended June 6 public hearing that ended before all speakers were heard. 

The plan has caused controversy in town because it puts nearly all of Holmdel's public parks, open space and the Bell Labs/Lucent and Arts Center properties into the new zone. 

Some believe that sewering these areas could lead to a negative effect on the aquifers feeding the Swimming River Reservoir, the area's drinking water supply. 

Others fear the designation could lead developers to turn Holmdel's peaceful, bucolic spaces into construction zones. 

At the public hearing held at the county library, a petition containing 1,000 signatures was presented and more than dozens of people spoke out passionately against the proposal. One was in favor. William Parkinson, an Alcatel-Lucent real estate manager, said "We strongly support that mapping." (See article.) 

But the meeting was closed before all got to speak. 

Township attorney Duane O. Davison said Monday that the Township Committee had requested the extension on behalf of its citizens who wanted their voice heard.

He said the town professionals and elected officials feel they have delivered their message -- at the hearing, and also sent a letter stating Holmdel Township's position. (See article.)

"The town does not plan on sending anything else in," he said on July 11.  A PDF copy of the notice is attached to this story. It was obtained on Friday by C. Anthony Cooper of Holmdel, President of the Citizens for Informed Land Use (CILU).

Anyone wishing to comment may mail a letter to the NJ DEP's Office of Land Use Planning, Attention: WQM Program Docket, PO Box 420, 410 East State St., Trenton NJ 08625. 

According to the spokesman, it is not necessary to comment again, if you have already done so.