Hanover Wegmans site to be checked for any runoff violations

A competitor of Wegmans Food Market scored a small victory Monday when a judge ordered an analysis of the alleged discharge of construction sediment into wetlands on the Hanover Township tract where Wegmans is building a 140,000-square-foot store.

Through his attorneys, John J. Sumas of Harding, the chief operating officer of Village Super Market Inc., has been pursuing a lawsuit that contends critical details were omitted or misrepresented in documents submitted to the state Department of Environmental Protection for permits related to the Wegmans.

Village Super Market Inc. owns 29 ShopRite supermarkets, including ShopRite of Greater Morristown which will be in direct competition with Wegmans. Sumas’s lawsuit is against Hanover 3201 Realty, a division of Mack-Cali that has a lease and site development agreement with Wegmans to build near the intersections of Routes 10 and 287.

Superior Court Judge Stephan Hansbury, sitting in Morristown, rejected an argument from Sumas attorney Shawn M. LaTourette that he could order the reopening of the DEP permit process under the state’s Environmental Rights Act. The DEP had issued several permits related to freshwater wetlands and flood zones but LaTourette contended the permits were issued based upon misleading information supplied by Hanover 3201.

LaTourette told the judge that Sumas has discovered wetlands are being filled without a proper permit since the Wegmans land has been cleared since January of about 4,000 trees.

The judge said he was precluded by case law from ordering the permit process to be revisited but said he could address the second issue of construction sediment supposedly being discharged into three acres of wetlands fronting on Ridgedale Avenue.

Hansbury ordered that the Morris County Soil Conservation District analyze the site to see if construction sediment is being discharged and file a report with him in 45 days. The judge did not order a stop to any construction activities while the conservation district’s review is under way.

Sumas was present for the proceeding and remarked during a break: “The record speaks for itself. I’m here to make sure there’s good sustainable development.”

Kevin Coakley, the attorney for Hanover 3201, told the judge the lawsuit is a “totally absurd effort” to thwart competition.

“This case is a farce,” Coakley said. “The motive of this party is to stop competition. It’s so obvious I think even they recognize it.”

But Coakley did mention that the county Soil Conservation District is free to inspect the Wegmans site for soil and runoff disturbances whenever it chooses, and the judge wound up ordering the entity to conduct an inspection of the property.

The parties had been in court on Aug. 18, when Kevin G. Walsh, another attorney representing Sumas, told the judge that preservation of wetlands and the environment is his client’s goal.

“Judge, I get it that some people really like Wegmans,” Walsh said on Aug. 18. “But in New Jersey we love wetlands. And I say that because the legislature has been very clear about that.”

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.