OAKLAND, NJ—Three decades of litigation that has prevented a residential project from being built here on a wooded mountainside has finally been settled. Officials from the neighboring township of Wayne are incensed - and so are environmentalists.

In an administrative court settlement reached earlier this year, but made public only this month, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection agreed to issue several permits needed to build a 204-unit residential development. The project, which includes single-family homes and town houses, is planned for a site atop a steep ridge on an 80-acre tract near the Ramapo River, according to The Record.

The site lies within in the Highlands region, which generates water supply for much of the state and is therefore strictly regulated. 

The settlement reverses a decision by the agency in 2008, which blocked the developer—Pinnacle Cos. LLC and Bi-County Development Corp. from hooking up to sewer lines in neighboring Wayne.

Environmentalists and Wayne officials are critical of the settlement, charging that they were not kept abreast of settlement negotiations.

“This is everything New Jersey has stood against, and now the DEP is approving it,” says Wayne Mayor Chris Vergano. He adds, “We don't know how the DEP has said this is OK. We didn't hear a peep that there were negotiations taking place until we received the notice. We thought this issue was dead.”

“This is the worst twist in the long and painful history of this site” Don Torino, president of the Bergen County Audubon Society, says. “This settlement is essentially the last nail in the coffin for this ridgeline.” See story in The Record.