PARK RIDGE, N.J.—Nearly 18 months after the proposal’s approval by Montvale, the developer of a 185-unit inclusionary development—which will provide 37 affordable units—got preliminary approval for an access road to the development that cuts through a sliver of adjacent property in Park Ridge.
A final vote is scheduled for the board’s Jan. 19, 2021 meeting.
Asked their views, most Zoning Board of Adjustment members told us they support a land use variance and three additional variances for road improvements to Sony Drive that will allow Landmark AR Park Ridge LLC, a developer that acquired the Montvale site from Hornrock Properties, to use and improve the existing driveway to reach its not-yet-constructed Montvale apartment complex.
The land use variance is required because the access road in Park Ridge’s Office Research Lab (ORL) zone would serve a multifamily apartment complex in Montvale, which is not a permitted use.
Members requested that board attorney William Rupp draft a resolution of approval for vote at the Jan. 19 meeting. Specific conditions that must be met will be spelled out, members noted, including ownership/maintenance of the access road, maintenance/widening of sidewalks to allow safe pedestrian passage, video inspections of storm runoff pipes, maintenance of runoff detention basins and overall upkeep.
Most members had items to include as conditions of approval but appeared to support the road’s usage and upgrades. On Nov. 23, Park Ridge settled its long-contested affordable housing litigation with Landmark AR Park Ridge LLC, Fair Share Housing Center, plus two more intervenors.
An ownership disclosure statement filed by Landmark AR Park Ridge revealed that Hornrock Properties, LLC, Lyndhurst, plus Parkvale Developers LLC, Lyndhurst, and Landmark PRM Investors, LLC, Lyndhurst. All three entities show a similar address: 9 Polito Ave., Lyndhurst.
Board Vice Chair Frank Pantaleo said the access point should be clearly delineated and well-lit, but noted based on “what’s before us, I don’t see any problems with what’s presented.”
Member Jamie DeMartino said the applicant had done a “good job” with its application.
Gregory Perez said the applicant did a “fine job” presenting its plan and noted, “Where else can they access this property?” in wondering about alternate entrance ways. Member Mike Curran said the plan was “well presented.”
Member Steve Clifford seemed less sure. He said, “There just seems to be a lot of moving parts with what I heard tonight,” including over traffic and safety. “There’s just a lot of things I have concerns about.”
Member Jeff Rutowski said he preferred to wait and review the approval resolution to make sure all requirements discussed Dec. 15 were included.
If approved, the access road opens the door to Landmark AR Park Ridge LLC to begin construction of its complex at the 7-acre site in Montvale.
Applicant planner Paul Phillips, engineer Brett Skapinetz and traffic consultant Nicholas Verderese answered board and public questions Dec. 15 during a nearly three-hour second hearing.
Phillips said a land use variance should be granted because the application passed all tests, positive and negative, that it needed to.
He said the 185-unit inclusionary complex that the needed driveway will access was already approved by Montvale, and that the former Sony property has remained “fallow and unproductive for several years now.”
He said because Park Ridge will soon use the adjacent 30-acre property for a 448-unit inclusionary development, New Jersey courts have found that neighboring municipalities “assist one another” to provide affordable housing.
Phillips said as both Montvale and Park Ridge sites will be used for inclusionary housing (market rate units mixed with affordable units) “actually now it’s particularly suited in providing access to Montvale’s inclusionary housing.”
He said though the 2009 Park Ridge Master Plan calls for retention of office use at the Sony site, much has changed since Sony vacated the property and affordable housing transferred to Superior Courts in 2015.
“Clearly there are changed circumstances since the adoption of the Master Plan,” Phillips said.
Under questioning from former resident David O’Sullivan, calling from Knoxville, Tenn., Phillips said the 2019 Master Plan reexamination did not address affordable housing and said there was no discussion of placing additional affordable units downtown.
Borough Planner Joe Burgis said the 2019 reexamination showed only 4 acres of Sony’s 30 acres as developable, with an office building there preventing development.
Burgis noted a ruling by a court-appointed special master recommending 35 dwelling units per acre on most Sony property as “basically what caused the municipality to seek a settlement.”
At least twice, O’Sullivan’s persistent questioning about previous testimony caused sharp exchanges between him and applicant attorney Peter Wolfson, with O’Sullivan upset with Wolfson.
While Wolfson asked O’Sullivan to stick to the current expert testifying and current application, O’Sullivan often asked general questions about affordable units, traffic, and points addressed by the Master Plan and asked for a repeat of previous testimony and data.
As a public commenter, O’Sullivan asked the majority of questions: He questioned Verderese about whether all existing developments near the 185-unit inclusionary site had been taken into account, which were questions that Verderese had addressed at the Nov. 24 hearing. He said they were.
Following up, O’Sullivan questioned Verderese about whether he had reviewed vehicle crash data before and after Wegmans opened, and he shouted “Yes or no?” several times at Verderese.
Verderese answered no.
After the exchange, Wolfson asked O’Sullivan to stop “badgering and abusing” Verderese. Later, O’Sullivan said he did not like Wolfson’s comments “about my relevancy to the Park Ridge application” due to his new Tennessee address.
Landmark AR Park Ridge plans to demolish the former Sony office building as part of its application to use and improve the Sony Drive access road. That eliminated the developer’s previous need for a parking variance based on the use of the building.
Eventually, the developer plans to construct a 448-unit inclusionary apartment complex on the Park Ridge site. A Fairness Hearing on Park Ridge’s settlement is planned for 10 a.m., Friday, Jan. 15, 2021 before Judge Gregg Padovano in Superior Court, Hackensack.
Objectors have until this Dec. 28 to file written objections with the Superior Court.
For more, see “Settlement Critics Have to Dec. 28 To File Objections With Court,” Dec. 14.
After a fairness hearing occurs, Landmark AR Park Ridge may develop its plans for a preliminary and final site plan on the adjacent Park Ridge
property.