McCoy's Corner development moves forward

WANTAGE — A big housing development has taken an important step forward in the approval process, though it may be a while before the housing market has rebounded enough for the developers to break ground. On Sept. 10, the three-person Wantage Township Committee unanimously approved a wastewater treatment plant for a 211-unit housing development being planned at McCoy’s Corner at the intersections of County routes 565 and 639. The project, known as the Wantage Village development, also known as High Ridge, will consist of a series of townhouses and single-family homes, according to Jim Prassas, the owner of Wantage Ridge Development which owns the land. Aqueonics, Inc. of Greenville, S.C., expects to break ground on the wastewater treatment plant in the Spring of 2010 after it has obtained so-called treatment works approval (TWA) from the State of New Jersey, said Aqueonics owner Jerry Traynham. Traynham said at the meeting that Wantage Ridge has reached an agreement with Sussex Borough to have water supplied to the development. Sussex Borough Engineer Mike Simone later confirmed that the borough had reached an agreement to provide 45,000 gallons of water daily to the site but that the borough needed to resubmit a permit application to the state Department of Environmental Protection before extending its water main to the property. Simone said it would probably take two to three months for the borough to receive DEP approval on the project. Under DEP guidelines, the borough must request three times the amount of water under the permit request, or 135,000 gallons per day, said Simone. Wantage Township Attorney Michael Garofalo explained to the members of the Wantage Committee that Wantage Ridge has obtained all necessary permits for the project. One of the reasons the Wantage Township Land Use Board was “attracted” to this project is that it helps the town to fulfill its Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligations, said Wantage Township Deputy Mayor Bill DeBoer. Traynham said 24% of the units to be built will meet the state’s affordable housing requirements. Still, Prassas said it could be a while before his company begins doing any actual housing construction on the site. “The construction completion schedule is dependent upon the economy and the strength of the housing market,” Prassas said, declining to speculate on a start date for the project.