WOODCLIFF LAKE—More than 200 residents who replied to the borough’s master plan survey seemed to voice a strong consensus: The community does not want multi-family, high-density rental apartments in town.
That’s according to the borough’s Master Plan Committee chair, councilwoman Josephine Higgins, who was mayor 1996–2003 and councilwoman 1994–1995.
Mayor Carlos Rendo appointed Higgins to the committee post this year to help shepherd the first update of its master plan since 2002.
Higgins told Pascack Press the committee was “very happy” with more than 200 resident responses to its survey, collected online and in print.
We reached out to the borough’s consultant about the master plan survey and a timeline for revealing and posting results but did not hear back by press time.
The master plan includes elements such as land use, circulation, utilities, community facilities and schools, conservation and open space, sustainability, economic development, and historic preservation.
It falls to the Planning Board to approve a revised plan.
From 1985 through 2002, the borough adopted periodic reexamination reports. In 2002, a complete master plan update was conducted; reexamination reports passed in 2008 and 2019.
Higgins told Pascack Press that, beyond housing, survey respondents also were “generally concerned” about traffic impacts from new development, including local and nearby developments such as multifamily developments planned or built in Park Ridge and Montvale.
“Traffic is just so bad now, we really need to be able to get a better handle on it,” she said.
Higgins said though Broadway is a county road and beyond local control, its traffic affects local streets — and that traffic affects a busy intersection where an NJ Transit train station is located.
Higgins said she hopes the master plan update is done by the end of the year and, moreover, that a final draft comes before the Planning Board and mayor and council by fall.
She said the plan likely would address changes that may be needed for zoning on Tice Boulevard such as possible residential uses that may be permitted.
Bob Nathin, a Master Plan Committee member and a former Planning Board member, said that “Most people don’t want to see what’s happening in Park Ridge and Montvale happening in Woodcliff Lake.” Nathin was referring to new or under-construction developments such as Park Ridge’s The James, a mixed-use 240-unit rental apartment and retail complex, as well as planned multifamily inclusionary developments in Montvale and Park Ridge.
Inclusionary developments include either rental or market-rate units, with a 15% to 20% set-aside of affordable units. Major inclusionary developments are planned in Montvale (185 units) and Park Ridge (448 units) on the former Sony property due to each town’s affordable housing settlement.
Nathin said that the borough’s affordable settlement allows it to mostly build 100% affordable units, and not negotiate with developers who build five rental or market-rate units for every affordable unit.
Nathin, who has lived more than 50 years here, said he was against high-density housing and said he was “glad that most residents don’t want apartments here.”
He wondered about additional traffic stemming from nearby towns’ developments and what impacts it might have on the borough’s quality of life.
He noted that “everything revolves around tax dollars” and pointed out that development has fiscal impacts on local services such as school costs, police, fire, ambulance, waste removal, and county taxes.
He said the impacts of development can outweigh the tax revenues generated by the development, “or what’s currently there.”
And he noted that traffic studies also do not fully account for all traffic impacts of a development., adding he was “not much of a fan of them.”
Nathin said traffic from nearby developments such as Park Ridge’s The James could add to local and regional impacts and congestion.
The Borough Council hired Preiss, Grygiel, Leheny, Hughes LLC, of Hoboken — which includes longtime planner Richard Preiss — for $50,000 in early February for work on its master plan update.
The borough’s plan has long been criticized as “outdated” as well as not taking into account current economic and zoning factors affecting the borough’s development.
Preiss also was retained, for $10,000, in 2019 to produce a planning report on the Broadway Corridor for council. He was asked to study and propose amendments to design guidelines and uses within the Broadway Corridor.
He said then that residents expressed a desire for low-density residential and retail uses such as shops to meet local shopping needs, “and a place for people to meet, spend time and perhaps have a meal or a cup of coffee.”
Some uses Preiss then envisioned included spas, wellness facilities, gyms, coffee shops and restaurants. However, critics pointed out a lack of parking and poor lighting in the area.
Rendo opposed the corridor study and said that the funds would be better spent on a master plan update.
We reached out to Preiss about the master plan survey and a timeline for revealing and posting results but did not hear back by press time.
A town’s master plan is a blueprint for its future and represents the goals and values of its residents.
Higgins said that the documents should help guide decisions about land use and development borough-wide, adding her hope that more residents participate.