THE PROBLEM

Overdevelopment and Billionaires.

The Second Watchung Mountain Ridge forest of West Orange, NJ is 120 acres of untouched and privately owned land. This is one of the last standing, unprotected core forests in the Watchung region and Essex county that has largely escaped enormous amounts of development. This land, with its many tributaries, streams, slopes, wetlands, and wildlife, is both ideal for conservation, and environmentally dangerous to build on.

The Watchung Ridge Forest is under attack. The owner, Zygunt Wilf, billionaire and owner of the Minnesota Vikings has sought to leverage the land to further build his net worth since 2006. At that time, the West Orange Planning board rightly prioritized environmental protection and public safety by rejecting a proposed development plan that would have added 136 housing units across 120 acres of the property.

Now, Wilf is back. This time, his plan is to capitalize on New Jersey’s housing crisis with a proposal to build a 496 unit housing development, setting aside only a 100 affordable units. Mr. Wilf’s family owned real estate company, Garden Homes, is fighting against the council's previous wishes, nearby homeowners, the community, and land use limits (Ordinance 1934-04 §23(2))attached to the property to make this billionaire fantasy a reality.

The Fight for Environmental Protection

and Affordable Housing is not a Zero-Sum Game.

New Jersey is urgently in need of affordable housing, and the state has plans to build 85,000 units of housing by 2035. But instead of prioritizing the peoples’ needs, private entities are taking advantage of the state’s obligations and creating a false dichotomy between affordable housing and environmental protection. This development would not be an accessible place to live, especially for those who might qualify for affordable housing units. It is secluded from the town center, schools, public transport, and doesn’t even provide sidewalks. CRAN believes that public safety and climate change come before developers who are interested in profiting off of meeting quotas that are expected by the state.

The agenda of billionaire housing developers and the companies that back them. It must be managed, monitored, and approved by democratically elected officials and the communities that tirelessly fight for humanity and the environment rather than money and needless expansion.

Building here threatens public safety.

The project’s stormwater management plan is inadequate and would result in greater flooding and erosion. This poses a risk not only to property, but also to human life, especially as extreme weather events become more frequent and emergency response systems have been weakened. In addition, the increased flooding would overwhelm the sewer system and potentially contaminate West Orange’s drinking water.

The development is served by a single access road, and with nearly 500 units, it would significantly increase traffic congestion, undermining New Jersey’s commitment to Vision Zero, and create a potentially dangerous situation for first responders in emergencies.

The Project is an Environmental Disaster.

Old, mature forests are one of our last and best defenses against rising temperatures. Cutting down this forest would destroy one of the few remaining carbon sinks in Essex County, releasing centuries’ worth of stored carbon into the atmosphere and accelerating the very climate crisis we’re already living through. Locally, the canopy acts as natural air conditioning, shielding us from dangerous heat by cooling surfaces and blunting the urban heat island effect.

But the consequences don’t stop there. These trees sit on steep slopes and near sensitive wetlands—clearing them would destabilize the land, increase erosion, and worsen flooding, which has already proven deadly in this area. And as the forest is torn up, wildlife will be evicted and water systems stressed, turning a resilient ecosystem into a hazard zone.

Cultural Erasure Disguised as Development.

This land is not empty. It holds centuries of memory. The Watchung Ridge sits on the ancestral homelands of the Lenni Lenape people, who lived, hunted, gathered, and held ceremony here long before West Orange existed. To pave over this land without recognition or consultation is not just environmental destruction—it is cultural erasure. What little is left of Indigenous access to these sacred places is being chipped away by billionaire developers, without regard for history or healing. Protecting this forest is also about respecting the Lenape people’s right to their own heritage, and rejecting the ongoing legacy of dispossession.