At the Monday, March 26, council meeting, a Moorestown resident asked council to take action regarding the public water supply.
The public comment portion of Monday’s Moorestown Township Council meeting was host to inquiries about how the township is allocating water and what action, if any, Moorestown is taking to work with the Department of Environmental Protection.
Resident Kevin Weinstein approached council with his wife, Mary, to explain how Moorestown’s moratorium on water allocation is impacting him and his wife. Weinstein said he and his wife began the process of trying to bring public water to a farm property they own on McElwee Road in the fall of 2016 and have been met with roadblocks since.
Weinstein said when the pair applied for public water in that fall, they were informed there was a moratorium on new water connections, and they were placed on a waiting list. He said they waited patiently, and nearly a year later, they inquired again about their status, only to learn there were still no new connections taking place.
“Public works was not able to give any prediction of when water connection might be available,” Weinstein said.
He explained this posed a problem as the Weinsteins had a purchase agreement for their farm property with an agreement that was contingent upon either getting permission to connect to public water or obtaining a permit for a well. With no clear answer in sight, Weinstein said they turned to the Department of Environmental Protection to obtain permission for a well, only to be denied because their property is located within 250 feet of the public water supply.
Through his conversations with a DEP representative, Weinstein learned that, in June, Moorestown was invited by DEP to request an increase in its water allocation, but Moorestown never submitted a request.
Frustrated by their inability to bring water to the property, the Weinsteins engaged attorneys from Hyland Levin in Marlton to try to either broker an agreement with Moorestown to permit a water connection or convince the DEP to permit them to dig a well.
Unable to reach an agreement with either party, Weinstein said they filed a lawsuit against both Moorestown and the DEP. He said as this process has slowly unfolded, their buyer did grant them several extensions, but the buyer is no longer willing to grant further extensions, which has resulted in the loss of sale for the Weinsteins.
In addition to the monetary loss, Weinstein said he fears the DEP is using his case to spur Moorestown into requesting more allocation.
“DEP appears to be using our lawsuit as leverage to force Moorestown to do what it should have done last summer,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein said his family and the township should not have to continue to pay thousands of dollars as they wait for Moorestown to prepare and submit documents to DEP in a timely manner. He said he understands council cannot comment publicly because the matter is still in litigation, but he had one request of council.
“We’re here tonight to request that when this council meets with your legal council this evening or the day after, that the council, township manager and the attorney all agree to work together to inspire the township individuals responsible for completing and submitting the data requested by DEP so that this litigation can be concluded,” Weinstein said.
Mayor Stacey Jordan said she appreciated the Weinsteins bringing this matter to the township’s attention.
“We’ve been working on it the past few months,” Jordan said. “We’ve had special meetings to try to get this moving.”
Jordan said she was limited in what she could say regarding the matter.
“I understand your frustration, and we will work hard to get it resolved.” Jordan said.
The next meeting of Moorestown Township council will take place on Monday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.
