Micro-Distillery in the Land of Spung Man

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,824
3,005
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Not far from me too. Glad to see that empty building will be put to good use. But I wonder how this fits into Spung Man's view of development in pinelands villages? ;)
 

Spung-Man

Piney
Jan 5, 2009
1,000
729
65
Richland, NJ
www.researchgate.net
Boyd,

The Lazy Eye Distillery is welcomed by Richland residents like myself. It is a privately owned establishment, on privately owned land. Their appearance did not require Chiarello's 5-year redevelopment tax abatement incentives. The distillery didn't need to invoke redevelopment eminent domain. Their arrival here has little to do with government intervention - but is in fact a private enterprise success story. Free enterprise is our (the residents) vision of what it means to move forward in economic growth. The Township Committee Chair shamelessly uses the distillery's story as proof of redevelopment's efficacy, but it isn't.

What Chiarello leaves out is that the distillery announced its arrival in Richland after Richland Village redevelopment was rescinded in Ordinance No. 8-2013 by the 2013 Committee. Richland redevelopment is dead. Right now there is no Richland Village, a novel name for Richland coined to court developers. The 2014 Township Committee will attempt to rescind the 2013 rescission, with a hearing set for February 10. How they plan to put the toothpaste back into the tube after it has been squeezed out is legally dubious. The Committee must go back to the beginning to reinstate redevelopment, but that act would further waste taxpayers' money.

Making matters trickier is the fact that most of the township-owned redevelopment land was recently sold (56.89 of 71.59 acres or 79.5% of the land), making the original redevelopment plan obsolete (Richland Village: Growing Smart into the 21st Century). Two of the sold properties were slated for package sewer plants, which were critical components of the original redevelopment plan.

Without the potential for sewering, the high density redevelopment building overlay Chiarello (and the Pinelands Commission) wanted is impossible, effectively making redevelopment untenable. Chiarello, let the private market do what you couldn't after 10 years of trying, and quite frankly mismanaged. Get it right; Giacomo’s foundered after Richland redevelopment began, the Lazy Eye Distillery appeared after Richland redevelopment ended.

S-M
 

Spung-Man

Piney
Jan 5, 2009
1,000
729
65
Richland, NJ
www.researchgate.net
Boyd,

I was an early advocate of Richland Village, and its keynote speaker during the groundbreaking ceremonies. However, once I figured out there was a big difference between what the public was being told and what was happening behind closed doors, my support waned.

Screen shot 2014-02-01 at 2.54.49 PM.png

Not one but two sewer plants were ready for permits by 2010, and few knew it:

Sewer in Richland Village
Accounting discrepancies occurred. Pinelands rules were violated. Stormwater management was being ignored. Worse, every house, business, and parcel of land within the Richland Village redevelopment zone were now considered blighted, and could be seized by a developer (even Richland General Store).​
Repeating what I heard tonight on NJTV's Reporters Roundtable, "Development is the mother's milk of New Jersey's politics." I argue that should not be the case in the Pinelands National Reserve!​
S-M​
 
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