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Posted by Staff at rt23.com on January 03, 2003 at 11:15:51:
Bergen Record - Friday, January 03, 2003 By EMAN VAROQUA
Staff Writer There isn't a cell tower on Kanouse Mountain in West Milford. There aren't
144 town houses atop Bloomingdale's historic Federal Hill. That's what Ross Kushner and John Capozucca are most proud of. Many motorists who pass those open swaths of Highlands don't realize the
months of paperwork and negotiations that are involved in preserving such
patches of greenery from the megalopolis spreading west. They also don't
realize that a lot of this work is initiated and conducted by average
citizens. "People don't see how hard these guys fight," says Kathy Baker Skafidas, a
member of Skylands CLEAN, an environmental watchdog. "It's a big job that a
lot of people don't want to do." Kushner, 45, of Kinnelon, heads the Pequannock River Coalition, and
Capozucca, 42, of Bloomingdale, is chairman of the Bloomingdale
Environmental Commission. Over the years, the movements have picked up about 250 members combined. Both men work full time in unrelated fields, but meet on common ground in
off-hour volunteer efforts to "prevent suburban sprawl and environmental
degradation," as Capozucca puts it. To keep up with area goings-on, they scan legal notices and agendas; if
something grabs their interest, they immediately launch a campaign. That includes a stream of letters to municipal officials, county
representatives, lawmakers, the governor, the Department of Environmental
Protection, and so on. They also distribute mass mailings and e-mails,
organize monthly meetings, and speak out at almost every council, Planning
Board, and zoning board meeting in Bloomingdale, Kinnelon, West Milford,
Riverdale, Ringwood, and Wanaque. They don't get paid for their work, and usually don't get - or want -
credit. "We're not out for glory," says Kushner, a database analyst for Washington Mutual. "Some developments don't belong on sensitive lands
regardless of the dollar signs they carry. That's it, plain and simple." Kushner and Capozucca are against developments that drain runoff directly in
the Pequannock River. They also stand strongly against building on
steep-sloped lands that recharge aquifers, the water-bearing underground
rock formations that hold much of North Jersey's water supplies. Building
homes on slopes that incline greater than 30 degrees also can lead to faulty
piping and leaky septic systems. Over the past seven years, Kushner and Capozucca have helped stop the
building of a trash recycling center on the banks of the Pequannock River,
several cell tower sites, and massive housing developments. But they stress that they aren't anti-development. For instance, Bloomingdale plans to revitalize its Main Street, a half-mile
strip rimming the Pequannock River. Both Capozucca and Kushner supported the
downtown redevelopment project because, they say, the plans were
environmentally sound. "I have no problem with plans that develop in a town's center, that have
sound catch basins so runoff doesn't flow right into the river, and that
make sense," Kushner says. "It may cost more, but it's worth it. A lot of
time we're just fighting for them to improve these systems, not the whole
development." The initiative also requires an aptness for debate, even when it becomes
heated. At a recent Planning Board meeting in Riverdale, Kushner was accused of
threatening and smirking at an attorney representing a developer. "You just
have to keep calm and get your point across without engaging in a battle,"
Kushner says. For developers, such activists can be real thorns in the side. Ron Pagano, a
developer from Glen Rock, wants to build an assisted-living center of 204
units on Skyline Drive. He's run into determined neighborhood opposition to
the project because the site is close to the Wanaque Reservoir and a
municipal well, and its sewage treatment needs exceed what the borough
government now allows in the mountain community. Pagano has countered with a
publicity campaign of his own. Pagano says that "each case should be looked at individually. All
developments are not the same and shouldn't be treated that way." Capozucca and his wife, Linda, moved to Bloomingdale eight years ago from
Brooklyn. A film major in college, he was a cartographic researcher before
landing a job in marketing and communications at the Harrington Group in
Morristown. "We looked at 80 different homes - literally - before choosing
Bloomingdale," Capozucca says. "We came here because it's rural and
beautiful, just like our neighbors did. But now this area is under
aggressive assault." Though always interested in environmental issues, Capozucca wasn't involved
until he drove past a sign down the street from his home in 1995 that read:
"Coming Soon: 144 town houses." Today, a new sign in the same spot on
Federal Hill reads: "Wildlife Preserve." Federal Hill played a role in the Revolutionary War's Pompton Mutiny in
1781, when a group of Continental Army soldiers briefly revolted over lack
of food and wages. The community battle led the land-owning development firm to sell the site
to the borough, and in the process, the participants learned lessons in land
planning and zoning, and what's defensible in town hall and in court. "It's so fulfilling to participate and be a part of something that saved
that land," Capozucca says. Capozucca was appointed by a Republican mayor in 1996 as chairman of the
Environmental Commission and has been reappointed since by a Democratic
mayor. He's worked on numerous projects in the borough, including helping to
draft Bloomingdale's Open Space Plan. Towns that create such plans become eligible for state Green Acres grants.
The state has been pushing for more greenbelts through its Development and
Redevelopment Plan, which calls for smart growth and offers monetary
incentives. For its efforts, Bloomingdale recently received $250,000 to help
purchase a part of Federal Hill. That sort of result helps ease the minds of some, who worry that a preserved
piece of ground may be one that won't produce enough property tax revenue to
offset its purchase cost. "He's someone I really look up to and admire,'' Bloomingdale Councilwoman
Sue Smith says of Capozucca. "He doesn't have to, but he keeps on fighting
for what he believes." Kushner is most active in West Milford, an 80-square-mile township marked by
vast areas of steep-sloped wetlands. At times, he and Mayor Robert Moshman
have worked side by side. Other times, they've clashed in passionate
battles. "I appreciate someone crusading for the environment and have nothing but
downright respect," Moshman says. "But I represent the taxpayers, and I'm
trying to get my town a good [tax] ratable, and here I am butting heads with
Ross on it all the way through." Kushner grew up in Wayne, and moved to Kinnelon almost two decades ago with
his wife, Barbara, to get away from congested roadways and city life. "Wayne used to be wide-open farmland. It's a shame what's become of it.
There's nothing green left," Kushner says. "I don't want what happened to
Wayne to happen up here." He became an activist after witnessing a fish kill in 1994 when a utility
closed dam flows. Kushner helped found the Pequannock River Coalition soon
after. Along with monitoring the river, he holds joint river cleanups with
Capozucca's group, and takes people on tours of the 35,000 acres of
watershed land and hikes through the mountains. "Every time I'm up there eating lunch, enjoying the view, and I don't see a
cell tower on Kanouse, I know everything is worth it," he says. Kushner and Capozucca are working to prevent high-density housing on West
Milford's Weber Tract, on a horse farm in Bloomingdale, and on the
Pequannock River in Riverdale, and they are fighting a proposed golf course
in West Milford. They've also lost several battles, including the Cambridge
Heights at Terrace Lake residential complex in Butler, and other
developments along the Route 23 corridor. "I might lose, but at least I fought," Kushner says.
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