Acupuncture in Boonton Township, NJ

BOONTON TOWNSHIP -- What's in a name?

According to Ed Daspin of Boonton Township, unnecessarily low property values. He says his municipality's name lumps it in with the neighboring Town of Boonton, and detracts from the reputation of a place he's glad to call home.

"The people that moved here over the last 25 years are the people that believe that branding and marketing of the wonderful way of life will lift the land values up, as right now the land and homes are a steal," Daspin said in an email to NJ Advance Media.

But for the nearly 700 members of the Keep Boonton Township Boonton Facebook group -- which sprung up last week in response to Daspin's plans for a petition -- the name "Boonton Township" holds plenty of value of its own. It's the name of the place where they grew up, where they raised their families. And it's a name they'd like to see stick.

"As a person who moved to (Boonton Township) in 1992 then moved out in 2005 and back in 2012, I'm disturbed and disgusted by the concept of changing our town's name for the sake of value," Lauren Bardach wrote to the group. "If you don't value your town and its history; it's time you move."

Daspin approached the Boonton Township Committee earlier this month with the idea, saying he and others would be putting together a committee hoping to effect a name change -- possibly to Mountain Lakes Township. The existing borough of Mountain Lakes was formed from portions of Boonton Township in 1924, and Boonton Township teens attend Mountain Lakes High School in a sending-receiving relationship.

Also up for consideration: Powerville, a historical name that still is used for a neighborhood in the township.

It's not an idea without precedent. West Paterson became Woodland Park in 2008 -- after several previous efforts to disassociate with Paterson failed. It proved a contentious change that was almost undone a year later. Passaic Township became Long Hill in 1992.

But it's not a change that would be made easily. To get it before voters, Daspin and his fellow committee members would need a petition to be signed by about 370 people -- 30 percent of those who voted in the last general election. That would have to be done by Aug. 14 to get on this year's ballot. Then, more than half the voters would need to say yes.

Township Administrator Barbara Shepard said as a resident, she's opposed to the idea -- and that she's gotten about 100 letters from other residents and former residents who feel the same way. Just one, she said, is in favor of a name change.

"As someone who's lived here for 20 years, I think Boonton Township has a terrific identity," she said. "I don't think it negatively impacts property values. I'm very proud to have raised my family here."

Daspin and opponents of his plan -- 600 or so joined the Facebook group within a day of its creation -- agree: Boonton Township's a nice place to live. He said it's a community with "minimum 2-acre lots, the best school system(s) in the state, meandering meadows, brooks, rivers, wildlife and streets that in the winter form a canopy of snow over the streets." For 2011-12, New Jersey Monthly named it the fourth-best place to live in New Jersey.

So what's wrong with the name?

Real Estate agent Ingrid Patois said the two Boontons do indeed sometimes get lumped together. And would-be home-buyers put a lot of weight -- maybe too much weight -- on the quality of a school system, she said. Last year, New Jersey Monthly rated Mountain Lakes High School, where Boonton Township students go, 19th in the state. Boonton High School, where the town's kids, go, was No. 212.

The median home value in the Boonton zip code is $381,800, according to Zillow.com. That figure encompasses both Boontons, as they share the zip code. In neighboring Mountain Lakes, it's $640,000. Note: A previous version of the post listed the value for the Boontons as $365,000, the value Zillow returns on a search for "Boonton, N.J."

But Patois said she thinks both Boontons are lovely communities -- and if anything, that the Town of Boonton is underrated.

"I think Boonton is coming into its own," she said. "I think we're seeing a trend happening there. If you can get past the high school stigma, that would elevate the housing costs -- there's a lot of room for equity in that town."

And Patois said she thinks home buyers know Boonton Township and Boonton Town are different communities -- they do their homework before considering purchases, she said.

For its part, the Boonton Township Committee is against a name change. It said in a Facebook post last week that while its members "listened respectfully when Mr. Daspin spoke to the committee," they're not on board with his idea.

"The name 'Township of Boonton' has served this township well for nearly 150 years," the committee wrote. "It is our intention that it will continue to do so for many more years to come."

New Jersey Herald

Recreational marijuana use is still illegal in New Jersey, but a legal crop of buds will be reaped sometime in the fourth quarter of this year in Boonton Township.

A ballot question in November will ask voters to authorize the retail sale of marijuana products in the Garden State, in the meantime, North American cannabis producer TerrAscend announced Tuesday its first harvest will take place before the end of the year, company spokeswoman Renee Cotsis said.

TerrAscend received approval from the New Jersey Department of Health in January to begin growing medical marijuana at the16-acre former Hamilton Farms property on Old Boonton Road. TerrAscend purchased the property in 2019 and obtained township permits in the spring following public hearings in the spring.

The company also announced it expects to complete second-phase construction on the site in October, Costis said. The first harvest will come from the existing 37,000-square-foot greenhouse. The new construction will expand its capacity to 140,000 square feet and add indoor cultivation and post-harvest manufacturing capabilities.

The company also plans to launch a "comprehensive suite of high-quality medical products" and will open its first Apothecarium-branded dispensary — a first for Warren County - in Phillipsburg in the fourth quarter. TerrAscend also plans to open two additional New Jersey dispensaries following regulatory approval.

TerrAscend was the eighth alternative treatment center to receive a cultivation permit by the New Jersey Medical Marijuana Program in December 2018. In December 2019, the program also issued cultivation and dispensing permits to GTI, which opened Rise dispensary in Paterson that same month.

New Jersey Department of Health spokeswoman Donna Leusner said recreational marijuana use is still illegal in New Jersey and TerrAscend still is only permitted to grow medical marijuana.

Overall, 12 ATCs have been issued state permits to cultivate marijuana for medical use, with another 24 applications pending, Leusner said. Medical marijuana has been legal in New Jersey since 2012.

As the cash crop grows, Costis said TerrAscend has for a second year reserved more than an acre of property to grow fruit and vegetables that are donated to the Loaves & Fishes food pantry in Boonton. More than 20 bushels of produce have been donated to date, Costis said.

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com.

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @wwesthoven

4-minute read

BOONTON - More than 70% of Boonton residents voted in favor of legalizing retail sales of recreational marijuana two years ago. Their elected leaders quickly followed suit, passing an ordinance by a 7-1 margin to legalize retail cannabis sales in town earlier this year.

But it turns out some Boontonites - and others who have children attending parochial schools in town - are very particular about exactly where they want those shops to exist.

Many of them packed a marathon council meeting Monday to speak out ahead of an ordinance vote by the council to extend the existing cannabis commercial zone to include Division Street. The expansion would include a vacant building desired by a provisional retail cannabis licensee, a few hundred feet from downtown Main Street.

Following a public-comment period lasting more than three hours, the council failed to pass the ordinance by a 5-4 vote.

Councilmember and former Mayor Cy Wekilsky reiterated his stance that retail cannabis sales were "not something we ought to have here." Councilmember Michael Wade agreed, "for a lot of reasons."

"If we need this to balance the budget, then shame on us," Wade said.

The public comment was a mix of for and against. Several residents spoke out about the benefits of added tax revenue and a business that would bring shoppers into town. Others worried about traffic on the narrow road, security and the proximity to schools. One angry resident opposed to retail cannabis sales referred to the elected officials as the "Wu-Tang Council," invoking the name of the pro-cannabis hip-hop band.

Mayor Rich Corcoran and Councilmember Marie Devenezia both said prior to the meeting, they received many emails from people out of town who were against the ordinance. Many of the out-of-towners, they said, were parents of students at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School and its Lumen Gentium Academy for high school students on Birch Street.

Noting almost 75% of her Ward 2 constituents voted in favor of legal retail cannabis, Devenezia said "I'm going to listen to the voices of Boonton first." She added she suffers from chronic arthritis pain and while the medications prescribed to her put her liver, kidneys and heart at risk, "cannabis poses none of those risks."

Corcoran was more blunt about the critics from out of town and his own council.

"I thank you all for coming out but what do I do about the 3,359 people in this town who came out in November and voted [for retail cannabis sales]?" he said. "They have a say. They provided a direction for this board."

He also turned his ire on Wade. "I couldn't disagree with you more," Cocoran said. "And if we don't pass this tonight, we are going to have to make drastic cuts to our budget. We're going to have to lay people off, and it's going to be you and me going to tell them that."

Corcoran added he has three children attending Mount Carmel and to be sure, he personally measured the distance from all schools in town to the proposed Division Street shop, and they were all in excess of the statutory 1,000-foot buffer.

The same council voted 7-1 in July "to go forward to look into" a request by Boone Town Provisions at its July 5 meeting to expand the commercial zone off Myrtle Avenue on the north end of town established by the council for retail cannabis shops. That vote followed a presentation from Boone Town chief legal advisor Justin Singer detailing the company's proposal to open in a Division Street building formerly occupied by Boonton Electric.

Singer returned to the council Tuesday to again explain that the company was unable to find a property within the existing zone that was suitable for their purpose. He also explained that suggested alternate sites, including the abandoned iHop near Walmart, presented security issues due to adjoining tenants.

Larger shopping centers also typically receive financing from larger banks with restrictive covenants that do not allow leases to cannabis sellers because it is still considered an illegal drug by the federal government,

"I get it, this is a new industry and people have questions," Singer said.

Corcoran warned that six other towns in Morris County alone have approved retail cannabis sales and there are a limited number of licenses being issued. He noted neighboring Boonton Township is already reaping up to $500,000 a quarter in added tax revenue from the cannabis growing facility in the township.

"So about a third of their budget is now going to be paid by cannabis," he said.

Seven towns in Morris County - Boonton, Butler, Dover, Morristown, Rockaway, Rockaway Township and Victory Gardens - have approved retail cannabis sales, but none have yet to see a dispensary approved and opened. Elsewhere around the state, 20 cannabis dispensaries have opened since retail recreational sales began in New Jersey in April.

The hunt is on.

New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division lifted a temporary stay on the state’s black bear hunt Tuesday. Shortly after, the state Fish and Game Council announced that the hunting season would begin the same day when check stations open at 4 p.m.

Appellants seeking to stop the hunt, including the Animal Protection League of New Jersey and the Humane Society of the United States, said they were deprived of their right to due process, claiming their experts were not able to review the emergency proposal and submit comments on it. The appellants did acknowledge that they attend a public meeting and provide comment.

The court disagreed. It ruled that though the council rejected the appellants’ comments, they were notified of the hearing and were given the opportunity to be heard.

The bear hunt, scheduled to end on Saturday, has been a point of controversy. Gov. Phil Murphy campaigned on a promise to end bear hunting as a means to control the black bear population.

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Politics & Policy

N.J. Gov. Murphy doubles down on black bear hunt after judge issues temporary hold

A New Jersey appellate court judge issued an emergency stay Wednesday temporarily halting the hunt which was set to begin Monday.

1 year ago

But Murphy approved reinstating the hunt that included regulation changes approved by the council, citing a dramatic increase in reported bear sightings this year. Opponents argued that the practice is inhumane, arguing instead that better waste management was needed to reduce interactions between bears and humans.

Murphy doubled down on his support to reinstate the bear hunt after the temporary stay was issued last week.

“I was convinced by experts that non-lethal means were sufficient to control the population, those non-lethal means have not worked sufficiently,” Murphy said on WHYY’s Ask Governor Murphy program. “The Department of Environmental Protection and their team are responsible for keeping tabs on the population. It’s possible, you might double count here or there. But the numbers are so overwhelming, it’s not double counting.”

According to an October 2022 report from the Department of Environmental Protection, black bear damage and nuisance reports increased 237% between Jan. 1 and Oct. 21 of this year, compared to the same period in 2021. State biologists projected that the bear population in Northwestern New Jersey would approach or exceed 4,000 bears within two years if immediate measures to control the population weren’t implemented.

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Boonton, Boonton Township, Hanover, Mount Olive & Wharton Sites Submitted for Grants

Morris County’s Open Space Trust Fund Committee tonight recommended that the Board of County Commissioners approve $2.13 million to acquire and preserve a total of 34.6 acres in 2022 Open Space projects spanning five towns.

The recommendations, covering properties in Boonton, Boonton Township, Hanover, Wharton and Mount Olive, were presented to the Commissioners with recommendations for approving the projects during the board’s public work session in Morristown. The parcels targeted for preservation range in sizes from .3 of an acre to almost 19 acres.

The Commissioners will make a formal decision later this year on whether to accept the recommendations.

“This is an important part of what we do here in Morris County as the Board of Commissioners. Each year we carefully review whether to preserve areas with our open space funding, as well as whether to restore historic sites and expand our trail systems. It is part of a regular analysis of the best use of trust funds to protect and improve upon a quality of life enjoyed by all of our residents. Our parkland is second to none, our successful historic preservation trust fund is in its 20^th year and since 1994, we have preserved nearly 17,730 acres of open space, which is larger than the Township of Parsippany,” said Commissioner Director Tayfun Selen.

Jay Thomson, who chairs the 15-member Morris County Open Space Trust Fund Committee, presented the recommendations to the Commissioners.

"It has been another great year for the Open Space program in Morris County. The county continues to show tremendous support to its towns by helping them to be proactive in preserving open space so that its residents have the opportunity to have a place to enjoy the outdoors close to home. This program is one of our county's crown jewels that we can all be proud of. Morris County continues to be a great place to live and work." said Thomson.

Funding for open space acquisitions and preservation comes from the voter-approved Morris County Open Space & Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, which is generated by a special county tax. The funding source also is used for farmland and historic preservation, county parkland acquisition, trail construction and the purchase of residential properties prone to flooding.

Since 1994, the Morris County Open Space Program has awarded $320,060,878 in grants for 490 applications. Applicants have successfully closed on 421 of those projects, preserving 17,728.24 acres. This is all in addition to lands that have been preserved and improved through the other Preservation Trust Fund Programs: Farmland Preservation, Historic Preservation, Flood Mitigation and Trails Construction.

2022 OPEN SPACE RECOMMENDATIONS:

Historic Turntable Property Adjacent to Grace Lord Park

Alli Property

Bee Meadow Greenway – Phase II

Budd Lake Dock Extension

Acquisition of Land for Creation of Orchard Mine Park (pictured top right)