PARK RIDGE, N.J.—A proposed settlement agreement headed to Borough Council vote Nov. 23 permits a developer to build 448 multifamily housing units—including 68 affordable rental units—on a 30-acre tract of former Sony property at the heart of a years-long affordable housing legal battle.
Moreover, the agreement requires 51 affordable family rental units to be built on borough-owned land near the Bear’s Nest Inc. condominiums, in cooperation with Bergen County United Way.
The proposal, posted Wednesday evening, mandates 168 affordable units for Park Ridge’s third round (1999–2025) affordable obligation.
These include 15 rental units at Park Ridge Transit LLC’s 240-unit Kinderkamack Road mixed-use development (a total of 24 affordable units will be built there including nine apartments for its second-round obligation); 51 at Bear’s Nest; 28 units at the Atrium (assisted living); 68 units at Hornrock-Landmark AR site; and six family-rental accessory apartments.
The proposal comes after several recent postponements of trial dates for Park Ridge due to continuing negotiations between the borough, Landmark AR Park Ridge LLC, and Fair Share Housing Center. Park Ridge recently settled with two other intervenors.
Residents can review the agreement online. A scan of the settlement agreement follows the Nov. 23 special meeting agenda. Monday’s meeting will be open to public comment starting immediately at 5:30 p.m., said the borough clerk. All interested persons can call in for the public portion at (201) 822-3199 passcode 121212.
Borough Attorney Anthony Bocchi confirmed that approval or rejection now lies with council members.
“As of yesterday afternoon, the parties were still negotiating the terms of a proposed settlement agreement,” Bocchi told Pascack Press Nov. 18. He said all parties “have finalized the form of the proposed settlement agreement and it is now up to the governing body to make a decision as to whether they will approve its execution.”
A court trial scheduled for Nov. 18 on the borough’s affordable housing obligations was postponed as the borough continued negotiations with the developer and housing advocacy agency pushing for more local affordable units in Park Ridge.
However, an aide to Superior Court Judge Gregg Padovano confirmed Nov. 18 that the trial date was turned into a case management conference to update the judge on where the parties stand with ongoing negotiations.
Pascack Press requested access to the remotely held conference but was not granted access.
Meanwhile, Park Ridge issued a public Request for Qualifications Nov. 16 on its website to hire a new special counsel for affordable housing. Submissions are due by Dec. 8 and a new special counsel will be selected and appointed by early January 2021, states the attorney solicitation.
The on-again, off-again trial has been repeatedly delayed, including a nearly six month pandemic delay, but most recently the parties were engaged in last-minute negotiations in hopes of avoiding a trial to decide the borough’s final affordable obligations.
Over the past several years, the most contentious issue for Park Ridge has been what should or should not be built on the 30-acre former Sony property in Park Ridge that is currently vacant and was owned by Hornrock Properties, LLC.
Hornrock recently transferred ownership to Landmark AR Park Ridge, LLC, though it was unclear what, if any, relationship exists between the two development companies.
However, a recent public notice listed Landmark AR Park Ridge LLC as the “applicant” for an access road to the 185-unit apartment complex in Montvale that Hornrock Properties LLC received approval to build in July 2019. Both former Sony properties, seven acres in Montvale and 30 acres in Park Ridge, lie adjacent to each other.
Park Ridge has been negotiating with its four intervenors since 2015, when it filed a declaratory judgment in Superior Court. It settled with two of the intervenors, offering signs that a larger settlement might crystallize.
Park Ridge settled with Bear’s Nest Inc. to permit 50 affordable townhomes and Metropolitan Home Development at Werimus LLC to permit three market-rate homes, purchase a lot for open space, and accept a $90,000 contribution to the borough’s affordable trust fund from the developer.
The borough contends its proposed 2018 affordable housing plan satisfies its “realistic development potential” for 81 affordable units. It does this by producing 50 affordable units at Bear’s Nest, 24 affordable units in a 240-unit mixed-use apartment complex on Kinderkamack Road.