Help Preserve South Middlebush Scenic Corridor

At the Somerset County Commissioners meeting on Jan. 25, 2022, I requested permission to speak to publicly thank news reporter Mike Deak for writing an excellent article (“Two Hindu Temples Proposed in Franklin Face Opposition”) published in MyCentralJersey (Courier News) about our petition “Help Preserve South Middlebush Scenic Corridor” which has 2,575 signatures. Unfortunately as can be heard in video of the meeting (starting at 59.10 and can be viewed in Somerset County Facebook page or here https://www.facebook.com/TranquilityProtectionAlliance ) County Counsel Joseph DeMarco denied me (Jim Johnston) permission to speak, saying “Zoning laws are within purview of Franklin Township and not Somerset County.” I beg to differ, because South Middlebush Rd (CR 615) , on which they will construct the houses of worship, is a COUNTY road (not local road), and to that extent it falls within jurisdiction of county. Traffic on that County road will be impacted. As another example of this , Franklin Zoning Board approved construction of 32 new homes (“Birch Glen”) near corner of Amwell Rd (CR 514) and Cedar Grove Ln (CR 619) behind Restas gas station, both of which are also COUNTY roads. Because they are county roads, this proposal also recently was reviewed and approved at the August 11, 2021 meeting of Land Development Committee of Somerset County Planning Board (at which Mr. DeMarco was in attendance) and then sent to County Commissioners for their approval as well. It is ironic at every meeting the Somerset County Commissioners are telling us they are “preserving open space” and “preserving farmland,” but the above are two conspicuous examples where they are NOT!