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BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF PASCACK PRESS
WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J—The future development of the Broadway corridor—with the mayor and council members taking opposing views on what approach works best—will be examined in a $10,000 study of design guidelines and permitted uses to be completed by the borough’s planner.
While Mayor Carlos Rendo opposed the study, questioning its cost and instead preferring to update the borough’s master plan last revised in 2012, all council members and several residents supported the study, calling it an opportunity to get information to improve the streetscape along Broadway and minimize or prevent housing from being built there.
The council voted 6-0 to approve the study by Borough Planner Richard Preiss “to study and propose amendments to the design guidelines and uses permitted within the Woodcliff Lake Broadway Corridor.”
A decade of studies
Over the last decade, several corridor studies were completed and town hall forums held to discuss development ideas for the Broadway corridor, which comprises approximately 30 acres adjacent to a reservoir.
The corridor’s development—or underdevelopment—has long been debated by residents and public officials, with divergent and at times divisive debates on what future development should occur there since the 2002 master plan.
The study approved Oct. 15 will address two possible amendments to the Broadway Corridor focused on design guidelines and a list of permitted uses.
The design guidelines are to be provided for all uses and sites in the B-1 and S-O district, between Highview Avenue and Columbus Avenue—the non-residentially zoned portion of the corridor.
The list of permitted uses in the B-1 Business zone between Columbus Avenue and Campbell Avenue will also be studied by Preiss.
No interest in Corridor
Rendo said no developer had shown interest in the corridor recently and questioned whether “spot development” in certain areas of the corridor was in the borough’s best long-term interest.
He said updating the master plan would be a better idea than spending $10,000 on a study of streetscapes, asking: “What is the end game?”
“If you really want to restrict, control, decide what goes into the Broadway Corridor, my recommendation is to move forward with a complete study of the Broadway Corridor, interjecting your desires and amending or changing the master plan,” he said.
Rendo said changes to the master plan “will take care of any spot zoning or developers picking off properties to develop.”
‘Things change, people change’
Rendo noted the master plan was adopted in 2002, amended in 2012, and needs to be re-examined.
“It’s old; things change, people change and I think we should re-examine it and get your input,” he said. He called the corridor study “a knee-jerk reaction.”
Councilwoman Angela Hayes noted the council and residents have been discussing Broadway Corridor for years and she hoped the study would look at incorporating public suggestions such as allowing restaurants in the area.
“Our planner knows Woodcliff Lake. He understands the small-town feel we want in Woodcliff Lake,” she said.
Resident and Planning Board member Cheryl Dispoto questioned how Rendo could have an issue with a Broadway Corridor study when he was in favor of a study of a possible restaurant at the train station site.
Dispoto said at a town hall meeting most residents agreed the dilapidated gas station site “is the biggest eyesore on Broadway” and she questioned the mayor’s concern “for cleaning up an area that is a true area needing redevelopment.”
‘We don’t want apartments’
Dispoto said “north of $25,000” was spent to develop a Broadway Corridor ordinance “that no one wanted” and that called for a density of 18 housing units per acre. Dispoto said residents prefer retail, not residential units or apartments on Broadway.
“Send a message to developers: we’re not an apartment town, we don’t want apartments here,” she said.
Former Mayor Josephine Higgins, also a Planning Board member, said more time could have been devoted to updating a master plan last year—but meetings were not held—and supported the study.
Higgins said the study “says we care and we want to get going on something.”
Higgins also took exception to the mayor citing cost concerns.
“It’s amazing, if you need something done on Galaxy [Gardens] property I bet you would find the money,” Higgins said.
The borough paid $1.65 million for the former garden center’s 2.1 acres—located at Woodcliff Avenue and Werimus Road—and is currently working on plans to remediate pesticide contamination there and turn the site into a passive park.
Councilwoman Jacqueline Gadaleta said Preiss was willing to defer most billing to 2019, minimizing cost concerns voiced by Rendo. She said the study “is a win-win and money should not be a factor.”
Hayes pointed out her regular concern with fiscal matters but downplayed the cost. “That’s what it costs to do business,” she said.
Affordable housing plans
On Nov. 8, 2017, the borough approved its affordable housing agreement with Fair Share Housing Center and another party. The settlement obligates the borough to build 16 units of affordable housing on North Broadway, and rezone two other properties for the construction of low- and moderate-income housing.
The town will receive eight bonus credits because the units will be rentals, notes the settlement.
Moreover, by building the 16 units, “the borough will avoid having to permit 80 units of inclusionary multi-family housing elsewhere in the borough, 16 affordable units or 20 percent of total, and the remaining 64 as market-rate units,” notes the agreement.
Previously, the borough spent more than $1 million from its Affordable Housing Trust Fund to purchase three lots on Broadway, north of Highview Avenue, to build the affordable housing.
In November, Rendo said the settlement was “much less disruptive” than settlements calling for multi-family housing units such as in nearby Montvale, now planning to build a 615 new housing units includes 106 units of affordable housing.
Future date with master plan
Hayes noted that earlier this year Preiss recommended revisiting the master plan in 2019, once council implements all parts of its affordable housing agreement.
It introduced an ordinance for mandatory affordable housing set-asides in new construction Oct. 8, required as part of the agreement signed in November.
“So I’m comfortable with moving forward with streetscapes, some simple permitted uses, and taking a look at the master plan at some future date,” said Hayes, stating her support for the study.
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