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Status Update
The Liberty Lake Coalition has been making a significant amount of progress! Our petition to the DEP requesting a public hearing to review Mansfield’s WMP was signed by more than 1,100 people! We submitted the petition letter to the DEP and we are optimistic that they will honor the Coalition’s request for a public hearing. We’ll let you know when the DEP responds to us!
Media Coverage
Check out these recently published articles on the situation!
Mansfield Wastewater Plan Subject of Contention, Dispute Could Delay Sewers, Warehouses
Birgitta Wolfe, The Register News, August 10, 2011
MANSFIELD — The opposing camps are lawyering up over a plan that one side says will bring much-need tax rateables and a sewer system and the other claims will bring major flooding to his business. At issue is the township’s Wastewater Management Plan awaiting Department of Environmental approval that would clear the way for a construction of a sewer system for Columbus and a 1.9-million-square-foot multi-warehouse development on 100 acres next to the 60-acre Liberty Lake camp site. Access to the property involves construction of a 500-foot bridge over wetlands. The DEP has opened a 30-day comment period on the wastewater plan, but Andy Pritkin, owner of Liberty Lake, on Aug. 5 requested a DEP public hearing to air his concerns. He also has started a petition drive and hopes to present the DEP with 1,000 signatures in opposition to the plan. So far, he said, he has 300 names. He said he is interviewing attorneys and will sue the DEP if his concerns about flooding are not addressed.
Camp Owner Petitions For Public Hearing On Planned Warehouse Complex
Jeannie O’Sullivan, Burlington County Times, August 12, 2011
MANSFIELD — A camp owner is continuing his fight to protect the attraction from the potential environmental impact of a planned 2-million-square-foot warehouse complex on adjacent parcels of farmland. As of Wednesday, Liberty Lake Day Camp owner Andy Pritikin had collected 594 petition signatures to urge the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to hold a public hearing on the updated version of Mansfield’s wastewater management plan, which includes a proposed sewer-service area for the warehouse complex. Once the wastewater management plan is adopted by the DEP, the developer, Margolis Enterprises of Boca Raton, Fla., can obtain a permit needed to move forward with the project. Attempts to reach the developer were unsuccessful.
Bucolic Views at Mansfield Summer Camp Threatened by Proposed Warehouse Construction
Cristina Rojas, The Times of Trenton, August 14, 2011
MANSFIELD TOWNSHIP — The wooded site of Liberty Lake Day Camp is a place of memories for the hundreds of boys and girls who go there each summer, but the campers might soon be staring at a towering, nearly 2 million-square-foot warehouse site if the camp director is unable to stop a development proposal. Andy Pritikin, owner and director of the 60-acre camp, said the warehouse site, which would sit adjacent to his property, would not only tarnish the countryside view for his campers but also increase flooding on his property and problems with pollutants in Crafts Creek, the stream that feeds Liberty Lake. “We don’t want it to flood worse than it does now,” he said.
Liberty Lake Explains Its Side
Letter to the Editor from Andy Pritkin, Register News, August 25, 2011
In response to the recent article about the Mansfield wastewater management plan, and its relationship to the proposed warehouse project adjacent to Liberty Lake — I wanted to provide a better understanding as to why we are asking for a public hearing. First and foremost, this is not a battle between Liberty Lake and Mansfield Township, nor is it an argument between Andy Pritikin and Mayor Art Puglia. The petition, and the environmental issues being raised are between Liberty Lake (and the thousands of families who enjoy it every year) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — the regulators whose job is to protect the environment and treat all parties fairly. We feel that because of the economic climate and political pressures, the situation as it involves Liberty Lake is not being looked at fairly or thoroughly.
Awareness Video -- Created by our Campers, Spread it Around!
Slideshow of Irene Flooding on our Property -- UNBELIEVABLE
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