EMERSON—An application by Emerson Redevelopers Urban Renewal LLC for seven affordable units at 129 Kinderkamack Road, in the central business district, agreed to as part of the Emerson Station redevelopment project gets its first Land Use Board hearing on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
The units proposed are those permitted in connection with the project referred to as Block 419 in Emerson’s Mt. Laurel Settlement Agreement and related orders entered by Judge Gregg A. Padovano, reads the public notice published Oct. 21.
Such public notices are available free at njpublicnotices.com, a site hosted by the New Jersey Press Association.
Meanwhile, Emerson Station, approved in late 2018, is delayed over the discovery of soil contamination below the former Ranch Cleaners, and the borough’s volunteer ambulance corps is without a permanent home.
(See “Contamination halts Emerson Station project,” Pascack Press, Oct. 25, 2021.)
As part of its Emerson Station project, which includes a four-story, 147-unit mixed-use building with 15,000 square feet of retail space, the redeveloper agreed to build 22 on-site affordable units and seven off-site affordable units. These units are included in the borough’s affordable housing settlement.
Recently, the project has been plagued by lawsuits, pending before Padovano, filed in Superior Court by both the redeveloper and the borough.
The redeveloper alleges Emerson is delaying and derailing the project; the borough contends the redeveloper has failed to pay its agreed $500,000 for a property deeded to them, and failed to build the project as proposed.
Also recently, the redeveloper paid off its 2020 taxes only after the redevelopment parcels were set to have tax liens sold off on them. It still owed three quarters of 2021 taxes, said local tax officials.
The proposed preliminary and final site plan application requests a use variance, four variances and two design waivers/exceptions to borough code.
The use variance is requested to permit a multi-family residential use including on the ground floor where the ordinance requires multi-family residential housing to be located above ground-floor retail, commercial, or other principal permitted uses.
The proposed three-story multi-family residential project, including seven affordable units and nine parking spaces, requests variances to permit:
- A 6-foot sidewalk abutting a parking area where sidewalks and parking areas are required to be designed to prevent cars from overhanging or extending over the sidewalk areas or widened to 8 feet to accommodate overhanging vehicles.
- Four exceptions to minimum lot areas and setbacks including a proposed front yard setback of 0 feet from Kinderkamack Road where the minimum front yard setback is 50 feet and a proposed rear yard setback of 2 feet where the minimum rear yard setback is 10 feet (an existing non-conformity on the property.
- Nine parking spaces where a minimum of 14 parking spaces (two spaces per unit) is otherwise required.
- Parking in the front yard where parking in the front yard is prohibited.
The two design waivers requested are to permit a 0-foot offset at the Kinderkamack Road right-of-way where all buildings are required to be set back a minimum of 20 feet from the road; and lighting of pedestrian areas and an access driveway with less illumination than required by code.
The Block 419 project received preliminary and final major site plan approval from the Emerson Land Use Board for 147 units, including 22 affordable housing units on site and an additional seven units to be proposed off-site, as memorialized by resolution on Dec. 28, 2018.
All interested parties at the hearing will be given the opportunity to be heard. One may appear either in person or be represented by agent or by attorney to present any objections or comments.