We need your help to fight an irresponsible and harmful housing development proposed for an undeveloped parcel of land on the Second Watchung Mountain Ridge!
The project, known as the West Essex Highlands, is a residential development that includes 496 units (with 100 being affordable housing units) on Block 179, Lot 32 in West Orange. The developer, Garden Homes, a subsidiary of the billionaire Wilf family, already owns the land and has been granted initial approval for development on the 120-acre forested area. Zygi Wilf is well-known as the owner of the NFL Team the Minnesota Vikings.
Project Impacts and Community Opposition
The property for the proposed development includes crucial wetlands, 30 acres of undisturbed forest, about 40 acres of steep slopes, and the Canoe Brook headwaters, making it fundamentally unsuitable for development. These features provide critical flood control environmental services that protect residents downhill. Further, the limited entrance and exit points to the proposed development present a major public safety concern, and threaten the ability of emergency services to perform lifesaving work.
There are no fully complete sewer plans, and stormwater and slope stability plans have been thoroughly called into question upon peer review. Should this development go ahead as planned, it will undoubtedly result in more extreme flooding events and further burden the residents of West Orange, Essex Fells, and Verona.
On top of these environmental impacts, the community does not want this development. The local organization WeCare, was originally founded to fight the project in its early stages in 2000, and is leading the fight on the ground. In late 2024, the Verona Town Council passed a resolution requesting that the West Orange Planning Board deny the application. In the months since, similar resolutions have been passed by the Environmental Commissions of Essex County, Caldwell, South Orange, West Orange, and Verona.
It is irresponsible and entirely inappropriate to threaten public safety and environmental health to fulfill a billionaire’s dream housing project! With smart and sustainable projects, affordable housing is crucial to ensuring greater equity and affordability in NJ. This project however is neither smart nor sustainable. The West Essex Highlands development is simply a bad and dangerous idea, and we need your help to urge the West Orange Planning Board to deny this application.
Join us to send a message NOW to the West Orange planning board urging them to deny this harmful project!
