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Committeeman Raftery directs attorney to draft change to nitrate rule; Mayor Young votes no
Summary
Southampton Committeeman Bill Raftery moved June 18 to have the township attorney draft an amendment excluding commercial and industrial zones from the township's nitrate-dissolution ordinance; the motion passed 4-1 and Mayor James Young requested a special meeting. Public commenters asked for a public hearing before any change.
At its June 18 meeting, the Southampton Township Committee voted 4-1 to ask the township attorney to draft an amendment to the township's nitrate-dissolution ordinance that would remove commercial and industrial zones from the township's jurisdiction and leave regulation to county or state authorities.
Committeeman Bill Raftery proposed the change and moved that an ordinance be drafted; Committeeman Mikulski seconded. The motion passed with Committeemen Heston, Raftery, Rossell and Mikulski voting yes and Mayor James F. Young, Sr. voting no. Mayor Young also said a special meeting should be held to discuss the proposal further.
The amendment as described by Raftery would exclude commercial and industrial zones from the township's ordinance on nitrate dissolution and shift authority to county and state entities, according to the motion and committee discussion. The committee did not adopt a text at the June 18 meeting; the vote authorized the attorney to prepare draft language for future consideration.
During the public-comment period, Evie Doherty of Stratford Road urged the committee to hold a public hearing before moving forward so residents could participate and weigh in on changes that would affect zoning and environmental regulation. Several residents from New Road raised unrelated quality-of-life concerns about noise and truck traffic from Allied Recycling; those complaints were recorded during public comment but did not prompt immediate committee action on June 18.
Next steps: the township attorney is to draft ordinance language for the committee to review at a future meeting. Mayor Young requested a special meeting to discuss the draft and related community concerns; the date for such a meeting was not set during the session.
The vote to draft the nitrate ordinance was a formal direction to staff rather than an enacted ordinance; any actual zoning or regulatory change will require subsequent readings, public notice and a final roll-call vote before becoming effective.
