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Farmer urges Franklin Township authority to allow sewer hook-up for preserved farm
Summary
At the FTSA meeting, farmer Reich Sudam said his preserved farm was promised future sewer connections and urged the authority to resolve a dispute that he says is blocking his son from building a house on the property.
Reich Sudam, a farmer on Skillman Lane, told the Franklin Township Sewer Authority on Tuesday that his property entered a preservation program 18 years ago with the understanding that exception areas near the sewer line would allow a future household connection for his son.
"We're trying to build him a house where the town told me to put it next to the sewer line, and we're having a lot of problems," Sudam said during the public comment period, saying the DEP, Middlesex County and Somerset County have indicated the connection should be allowed but that the Franklin Township Sewage Authority has not changed its position. He asked the board to consider his request during the executive session later in the evening.
Sudam recounted correspondence in which state DEP staffers allegedly contacted FTSA staff in late June and early July; he said his engineers were unable to obtain timely answers from a named FTSA contact. "I left a message on Thursday with promise that he'd call me back. Today is Tuesday. I haven't heard from him yet," Sudam said.
Board staff responded that the public comment period is not a question-and-answer forum and that Sudam would receive a response later, potentially after the board's executive session. "A response to your inquiries will be coming, but not from this meeting," one official said. Sudam closed by asking the board to consider his application and said he is willing to show the site to any board member.
The meeting record does not show the board reaching a decision on the request during open session; the board entered executive session later to discuss pending and potential litigation.
