Stinky piles of mulch subject of Jackson fight

JACKSON – When Maggie Quinn bought her Jackson home on Olena Drive, a 19-acre farm bordered the back of her property. Now the view of the farm she enjoyed years ago has been replaced with a hulking, stinking mound of mulch that borders the two properties.

Quinn testified Wednesday before the Jackson Zoning Board, after her neighbor, JR Custom Landscaping, sought an interpretation from the board of local land use rules that would allow it to process mulch and topsoil on two Jackson properties.

Neighbors of the landscaper testified before the board for nearly three hours, saying JR's small mountains of mulch stink, and that noisy truck traffic is disturbing their residential neighborhood.

They said the piles and processing activity violate land-use rules in the residential neighborhoods and degrade quality of life there. The group has fought the landscaper's activities since 2011.

"You can smell when the composting happens," John Giroux of Francesca Lane told the board. "I've seen it. I've heard it. I smelled it. I lived it."

"I have a perfectly good view of the JR farms," said Robert Vigorito of Olena Drive. "I heard this past spring for many weeks, loud noisy equipment, dump trucks backing in, (and) backup alarms."

Landscaper's defenders

JR employees and attorneys are countering that the landscaper is complying with local land use rules.

Karen Borga of Toms River said she boards a horse at JR's East Veterans Highway property, one of at least seven kept at the farm, and urged the Zoning Board to resolve the matter amicably.

"It would be an extreme hardship if I had to move my horse," she said.

Pastor Trevon Gross, whose Hope Cathedral Church borders JR's Bennetts Mills property, said: "We've never been at all negatively affected by his business."

The most recent case has been before the Zoning Board since August. But in 2011, the Zoning Board voted against the landscaper's request to continue manufacturing mulch at its Bennetts Mills Road site. At the time, residents said the landscaper was operating a recycling facility in a residential-zoned area of the township.

After three and a half hours of testimony on Wednesday, the Zoning Board announced it will continue the hearing on Jan. 21.

Amanda Oglesby: 732-557-5701; aoglesby@app.com