As a resident who intends to make Milltown my home for decades to come and to raise a child here, it is with a mixture of fear and surprise that I view the ever-changing and increasingly murky landscape that is the Ford Avenue redevelopment plan.

The most recent developments in this controversial situation are most disturbing. The property's owner, Lawrence Berger, who has neglected the site for years, has filed suit to prevent the borough from entering into an agreement with any developer, instead proposing his own 550-unit, non-age-restricted residential plan. The basis for this plan is a longstanding decision by the borough to ignore the requirement to provide for affordable housing as dictated by New Jersey's well-known Coalition on Affordable Housing.

The response of Omar Boraie, the proposed developer, has been to amend his current plan, which called for 276 age-restricted units. Now 114 of these units will be sold as non-age-restricted. The plan will allow for 66 affordable-housing units, two more than required.

A recent editorial in another local newspaper praised this compromise and estimated that this would add an additional 60 pupils to the Milltown public schools. With 114 units occupied by families, one can only wonder how such a ridiculously low estimate could have been calculated. The increased tax burden resulting from the influx of students is obvious to even the most casual observer of school budgets. In addition, the increased class sizes will surely have an impact on the quality of our children's educational experience.

As recently as April, Redevelopment Agency Chairman Anthony Zarillo publicly stated that the Boraie plan would bring a net tax-revenue gain of nearly $1.4 million to the borough. However, the cost of schooling the additional pupils will soon account for every dollar of additional revenue. This is to say nothing of the additional infrastructure costs in the way of power generation, sewer system, emergency services and traffic management that high-density residential housing will bring.

The residents of Milltown are being told that soon, the courts will decide whether Mr. Berger will be allowed to proceed with his plan, and that our only chance to avoid a 550-unit development is to accept Mr. Boraie's revised plan.

It is not at all a foregone conclusion that Mr. Berger will, or can, develop the site as he desires, or professes to desire. The extent of the environmental contamination on the site is still being determined. It is a matter of speculation as to how much of the site is even suitable for development as residential property. In addition, Mr. Berger has owned the property for decades and has not built one stick on it. Perhaps Mr. Berger's sudden wish to turn it into a high-density residential development is no more than a ploy to inflate the property's value or exact financial concessions that will reduce his obligation to remediate the contamination there.

We are being asked to choose the lesser of two evils, as it has been stated publicly that Mr. Berger has the borough "over a barrel." In view of this concession by the powers that be, the sudden change in Mr. Boraie's plan to one that spells greatly increased revenues for him is, in my view, less than coincidental. Further, we are being told that this resolution must come quickly, and quite possibly by the very next Borough Council meeting.

It is in the best interests of every Milltown taxpayer that we make our voice heard, ask questions and demand answers. Why were the affordable-housing requirements of Milltown deliberately ignored? Further, why were the implications of such an action not considered when deciding to go ahead with developing Ford Avenue as a residential site? Why are 114 non-age-restricted units suddenly a part of Mr. Boraie's plan? Why is it being assumed that Mr. Berger can or will develop an extremely high-density project? Overriding all of those questions is this: How did we allow such an untenable situation to develop for the borough, and can we not find a better way to develop this site?

We owe it to ourselves and our children to turn over every stone, explore every possibility, ask every question and do whatever is possible to ensure that Milltown remains the kind of place in which we want to live and raise our families.

Please come to the next Borough Council meeting on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. and make your voice heard. Your quality of life may depend on it.

Robert Belloff is a resident of Milltown