TRENTON — A state appeals court has ruled that the state Division of Fish and Wildlife misinterpreted legal requirements when it granted a license in 2007 to operate a commercial shooting preserve in Byram and Andover townships. The court is sending its decision on the Hudson Farm application back to the DFW for reconsideration. A group of neighbors from...
Scenic portion of Hudson Farm Greenway in Byram, in this February 2010 file photo.TRENTON — A state appeals court has ruled that the state Division of Fish and Wildlife misinterpreted legal requirements when it granted a license in 2007 to operate a commercial shooting preserve in Byram and Andover townships.
The court is sending its decision on the Hudson Farm application back to the DFW for reconsideration.
A group of neighbors from the Forest Lakes neighborhood in Byram and Andover, who filed the suit to overturn the license and served as attorneys in the case, are hailing the decision as a victory, although they acknowledge more court battles lie ahead.
But the attorney for Hudson Farm says the decision will have little or no impact on the shooting preserve’s activities in the real world. He says the decision doesn’t stop Hudson from doing anything it’s presently doing. The private Hudson Farm Club is presently using the area for hunting birds and deer and will continue to do that, said Attorney John Ursin.
The court’s ruling says the DFW did not provide a strong enough “factual basis” to approve the license.
“DFW must clearly articulate its factual basis and reasons for granting the license, discussing each of the relevant statutory factors, so that there will be an adequate record for any further appellate review,” the court decision says.
Harvey Roseff of Byram, the leader of the neighbors’ group, called the decision a “spanking” for Hudson Farm. He pointed out that the court found the DFW did not properly interpret the requirement that Hudson Farm had “no conflicts of a prior reasonable public interest.”
Roseff noted that the decision said safety buffers were already required under another section of the law and the DFW needed to require Hudson Farm to do more to fulfill the concept of “public interest.”
The neighbors group opposes the shooting preserve on a number of grounds, including noise and its affect on the 450-home neighborhood; the impact on wetlands; and its effect on birds when they eat lead shot.
“Nobody has said this is a proper use of the land,” Roseff said, adding that the DFW may have to address that issue in its next decision.
Ursin, the attorney for Hudson, said the neighbors’ group is “playing games” and hasn’t really achieved anything.
In 2008, Hudson Farm was proposing a shooting school and skeet shooting course on the property, but abandoned that plan following local opposition, Ursin said.
But, he pointed out, the club still needs a commercial shooting preserve permit so it may continue to raise and release birds for hunting.
“All the court did was tell the (DFW) to make a more complete record,” Ursin said. “We’re very confident the commercial shooting permit will be renewed.”
The 900-acre site in Byram and Andover is part of a 3,500-acre plot that also extends into Hopatcong and Sparta. The club received its first shooting permit on the Hopatcong side in 2000, Ursin said.