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Despite the illusions of grandeur that additional tax revenue appears to bring, we regard the proposed warehouse complex as a short-sighted LOSE-LOSE situation for Margolis Enterprises, Mansfield Township and Liberty Lake. Here's why:
Environmental Impact
■ Steven Jacobus
, a stormwater engineer at the Department of Environmental Protection, conducted an on site study analyzing the flooding impact of the Margolis Project on Liberty Lake. His report shows that flooding of our property will most likely increase if the warehouse complex is constructed in it's current proposal. Click here to view the full Jacobus Report.
■ Heightened exposure to 24-hour diesel fumes: Burlington County is in the 94th percentile nationwide for risk from diesel soot, meaning that only 6% of all counties in the United States are at a higher risk to suffer from diesel fume-related health illness than we are here in Burlington County. At Liberty Lake, we believe that we should be taking strides to reduce, rather than contribute to, this unfortunate county-wide trend. Click here to view Burlington County's complete Diesel Soot Health Impact Report, provided by Clean Water Action.
■ Impact of the New Jersey Turnpike Widening Project: The layout and design of the Margolis Warehouse Complex was developed prior to the beginning of the NJ Turnpike's Widening Project. The Turnpike Project has significantly altered the entire site, including the elimination of a stormwater basin and the facilities' emergency exit [it no longer exists]. It is our belief that the effects of the Turnpike's 
Widening Project alone is enough of a basis for Margolis to re-design their plans. In its present form, the proposal should not be granted final site approval on the grounds that their site has been fundamentally transformed.
■ The incessant noise that will be generated from a 24-hour flow of tractor trailers will be a nuisance to the Liberty Lake community, as well as local residents.
■ The sight of a 900,000 square foot, forty‐foot tall warehouse, elevated on higher ground, will negatively impact the current rural, pastoral feel of the area which is integral to the Liberty Lake business.
■ Liberty Lake and it's surrounding area are already victimized by flooding. Check out the slide show (link on the right) to see for yourself.
■ 100 Year Flood Plan Maps are outdated and 
antiquated. Every year, the Liberty Lake area floods beyond the 50-year flood line. What do you think will happen with an additional 10 million square feet of impervious surface surrounding it?
■ Stormwater MIScalculations: The plans call for water to travel underground. Stormwater basins are calculated solely on the basis on the amount of black-top run off. Rooftop run off will sink into the clay, causing more saturation and flooding than there already is. Additionally, the soil in and around Liberty Lake has the worst percolation and hydraulics of any soil in New Jersey. This is why a county landfill was built adjacent to Liberty Lake. In some areas, there is thick clay, similar to modeling clay, only six inches beneath the grass. Thus, the storm water calculations, which were based on NORMAL soils, are inherently incorrect.
■ Millions of gallons of water run-off will end up in underwater piping from 9 detention basins emptying into Crafts Creek, just downstream from Liberty Lake- even though there is no "downstream" when it floods- it all backs up. These detention basins will supposedly clean the water, which will have residual runoff from garbage and diesel fuel trucks. On a rainy day, the volume coming out of this pipe would be extremely high, causing damage to the watershed creek. The developer’s plans show an “Emergency Run‐off” from the closest basins which literally empties onto the Liberty Lake property. Judging from photographs and recent rainfall/flooding in this area, this could present very hazardous implications. While the nine catch basins proposed are planned to clean the water somewhat before depositing it back into Crafts Creek, the plans are theoretical, and some think overly optimistic.
■ Despite the promises of prior developers and engineers, the warehouse complex will have a negative impact on Crafts Creeek, which is already significantly impaired at two other locations upstream, .
■ Liberty Lake is a highly utilized recreational lake, and residual oils and waste (first flush pollutants) from warehouse dumpsters and tractor trailers could end up in the lake and in our well water that functions as our drinking water.
■ Neither engineers nor DEP Representatives have observed our property in rainy conditions. If they did come to inspect our grounds on a rainy day, they would know what we know -- that our property is already victimized by flooding during rainstorms. We don't want to imagine how much worse the flooding could get when we are encased by 2 million square feet of warehouses...
It's About the Children!
■ We believe that the willingness of state and local officials to permit this project is largely based on misconceptions regarding how influential and important the Camp Experience is for hundreds of local children each summer. Our Camp program and philosophy adheres to the principles of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), a national organization that is dedicated to providing today's youth with the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in the 21st century. Numerous studies have demonstrated that the 4 C's of communication, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity are more important in today's world than the traditional 3 R's. At Liberty Lake, the 4 C's are embedded within our program and we provide children with an environment that helps them maximize their full potential as individuals. An environment that is as supportive, well-intentioned and committed to the well-being of children should not be diminished for the sake of unnecessary, gargantuan warehouses.
■ We believe in the importance and integrity 
of Liberty Lake's 5 Star Points: We teach children independence, how to be a contributing member of society, inspiration and appreciation, teamwork and collaboration, and friendship -- what it means to be a REAL (not Facebook) Friend. Real, life altering work takes place at Liberty Lake, the kind of work that impacts thousands of people a year and that those people take back to their homes and towns and impacts more people. To jepoardize this for the sake of warehouses and tax revenue is short-sighted, discouraging, and against the human spirit.
■ While Margolis Enterprises is entitled to develop the property, we believe that their current plans show absolutely no regard for the well-being, safety and health of our campers in that: (1) the proposal does not include the construction of a tree berm or other barrier between the two properties and (2) the warehouse that will be built closest to camp property is as large as zoning and mathematical laws allow for. Certainly, a barrier would help lessen the aesthetic impact and reducing the size of the warehouse would decrease the likelihood of flooding our lake and surrounding area. However, the Mansfield Township Planning Committee did not deem it necessary for Margolis to provide anything more than the minimal buffers required by law.
■ Mansfield Township has a responsibility to Liberty Lake, their 40-year taxpaying business, with a long standing reputation in the community of being a positive agent of change in the lives of children and provider of childcare for hundreds of local families every year. Unfortunately, the Margolis Plans were developed as if they were building on a neighbor-less property, which is far from the case!
■ If this project takes place, children will hear, smell, see, and breathe in the exhaust from the tractor trailers, as well as other pollutants described above.
■ We believe that the Margolis Proposal is an illustration of juvenille ageism, or discrimination towards youth. As Dr. Westman, a professor and champion of children's rights, explains, “while we are a nation that professes to love our children, our policies, laws, and actions clearly say otherwise." Clearly, the warehouse proposal has prioritized economic gain over the future well-being of children.
■ We believe that Nature Deficit Disorder is rampant in today's generation. Children today spend the bulk of their spare time indoors, watching TV, playing video games, updating their Facbook accounts, texting and surfing the internet. Liberty Lake is one of the last bastions of nature that local parents feel safe sending their kids to.
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■ We believe that short-sighted economic incentive, which 
compromises the long-term quality of both Liberty Lake’s and Mansfield Township’s physical environment, lies at the forefront of this proposal. Financial gain, in the form of tenant rent for Margolis and stabilized taxes for Mansfield’s citizens, is the primary force behind this project. However, as Dr.Hamilton explores on our "Ratable Myth" page, commercial development in rural areas, with the intention of improving a town's financial situation, typically fail in the state of New Jersey.
■ There is a severe lack of "buildable" space in Mansfield Township. Consequently, we believe that the Margolis Warehouse Complex is a “boom” or “bust” situation for Mansfield Township. If the warehouse flops, as the evidence in New Jersey shows it likely will, then the community is stuck with a worthless, empty warehouse and will have no room to build anything else. Do the citizens and taxpayers in Mansfield Township want to bank the financial prosperity of their community on an investment that has failed time and again in New Jersey?
■ Unbeknownst to Mansfield residents, in pursuing the development of its own Wastewater Management Plan, which includes the environmentally challenging Margolis project, Mansfield Township has forgone the opportunity to receive grant money from the state; meaning that this project has already caused financial harm to the township.
■ COAH regulations for commercial construction are temporarily suspended (part of the “perfect storm”), but could potentially return, meaning that the township would have to build over 60 low income units to offset the warehouse development.
■ With industrial (warehouse) vacancy rates of 48.6 percent in Central Jersey, Burlington County does not have any industrial space under construction (neither does Camden or Mercer County).
■ We believe that bleak financial conditions in New Jersey need not result in short-sighted decision making, the effects of which will resonate for generations.
Research has shown that commercial development in rural communities fails to stabilize local tax rates and inflicts irreversible damage to communities. Mansfield Township will not be the same if this warehouse is constructed. Click here to discover why.
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"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
~Martin Luther King Jr.
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