Residents say town was wrong to allow zoning change and want DEP to block the use of preserved land
Opponents of a plan to build a 510,000-square-foot warehouse in Phillipsburg, are urging the Department of Environmental Protection to deny a request to lift open-space protection so the site can be developed.
The DEP has designated about 7.5 acres of a 43-acre parcel where the warehouse would be built as open space under its Green Acres program that preserves land and prevents development.
The Phillipsburg Town Council, which changed its zoning in May to allow the development, is asking the DEP to remove the 7.5-acre lot from the Green Acres program, according to a lawsuit filed against the township by five residents who oppose the development.
The suit, filed in late June, says the parcel is listed under the town’s open-space inventory and may not be converted to other uses without the permission of the DEP.
Both the agency and the mayor of Phillipsburg, Todd Tersigni, declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Tim Evans, director of research at the nonprofit New Jersey Future, and an expert on land use said he was unaware that the DEP had ever removed a parcel of land from the Green Acres program.
