ROCKAWAY TWP. (12/31/05) – The Embattled Christ Church of Montclair now has to deal with an apparent wetlands problem that apparently occurred some 30 years ago when the 107 acre site had another owner.

The Church purchased the land earlier this year for a reported $10 million from Agilent Technologies. The questionable fill in of 20 acres of wetlands apparently occurred when the site, located on Green Pond Road, was owned by the Hewlett Packard Company.

The Church this month marked the beginning of the third year it has been presenting a land use plan to the township planning board for a "mega church complex" on the Green Pond Road site.

The 5,000 member church has met with stiff resistance as well as support from various quarters in the township because of its purported size, social and economic impact, traffic congestion and the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax revenue in a municipality undergoing significant tax increases.

The US Department of Interior is questioning what is says is an unauthorized filling in of 20 acres of wetlands at the site in the 1970’s.

In a letter to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, the Interior Department questioned the validity of granting an exemption to the Church from the recently passed NJ Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act.

The letter cited "unresolved questions surrounding the wetlands fill" which has been a concern since 1979 and pointed out that filling in wetlands without a federal permit after 1972 would be a violation of the Clean Water Act .

The Church received an exemption from the Highlands Act in 2004 which was then challenged by the Township in Superior Court.

The judge ordered the DEP to conduct another evaluation of the exemption it granted. A result of that evaluation has not yet been forthcoming.

In the meantime, Christ Church has revised downward it’s plan for a church that would hold some 2,500 people, a K-5 elementary school, parking garage and recreational facilities. It also has aagreed to clelan up any soil contamination or water problems.

Mark Weinstein, a spokeman for the Church said the issues raised by the Department of the Interior concerning the wetlands was not a problem and was being addressed by the US Army Corps of Engineers.