MONTVALE, N.J.—Montvale planners gave unanimous approval for a 185-unit multifamily development that straddles the borders of Woodcliff Lake and Park Ridge—an “inclusionary development” tied to fulfilling the borough’s affordable housing obligations.
After revising its building site layout and realigning its new driveway access road to reside entirely on the Montvale side of its property—two critical changes—Hornrock Properties submitted an amended application for preliminary and final site plan approval.
Following an hour of testimony from applicant engineer Brett Skapinetz, the Planning Board voted unanimously to have its attorney draw up a resolution to approve the 185-unit development on seven acres, including 37 affordable units.
The 185 units approved include 81 one-bedroom units, 82 two-bedroom units and 22 three-bedroom units with “associated common and amenity space, which includes, but is not limited to, a community room, fitness rooms, and an interior courtyard with a pool, BBQs, patios and lawn space.”
It’s considered an inclusionary development because 20% of the units will be set aside for affordable housing, as required in Montvale’s approved 2017 affordable housing settlement.
Skapinetz said the applicant was able to rotate the site layout clockwise and realign the access roadway to lie completely in Montvale, where previously the access road did not lie within Montvale.
He said the site now includes parking spaces along the access driveway.
Carmine Alampi, an attorney representing Park Ridge, questioned whether all parking remained in Montvale and parking space configuration but the strongest criticism of Montvale’s revised plan submitted for preliminary and final approval came from a Park Ridge resident and regular critic, David O’Sullivan.
Due to dramatic changes to the building layout and access road realignment—including the addition of 23 parking spaces along the driveway entrance—the applicant was determined to apply for preliminary and final site plan approval.
Previously they only sought preliminary approval, pending a Park Ridge Zoning Board hearing on a related variance for which approval was needed. Much of the July 2 Planning Board meeting focused on the changes made by Hornrock Properties and questions and concerns by borough professionals and mostly answered satisfactorily by the applicant’s engineer, Brett Skapinetz, of Dynamic Engineering, Chester.
It was unclear whether a resolution of approval would be drafted in time for the board to consider at its July 16 meeting. The hearing was delayed from June due to revisions to the site layout and drive aisle road, and related variances, which required public notice.
The variances requested include relief to “permit a drive aisle serving a parking lot and portion of the parking lot located approximately feet and parking spaces to be located approximately 29 feet from the lot line and in the front-yard setback along the Garden State Parkway, where a front yard setback of 40 feet is required,” states the public notice. In addition, a variance was requested to “permit the proposed development…on a lot that does not abut a street giving access to the proposed development.”
Hornock in Park Ridge
Meanwhile, Hornrock is also requesting minor variances at the July 16 Park Ridge Zoning Board meeting for improvements to accommodate access to the reconfigured driveway entrance on the Park Ridge side.
Hornrock needs such approval before any construction can begin on the Montvale site.
While Alampi raised no further objections noting the project resided mostly in Montvale, David O’Sullivan cited a 2017 Pascack Press article that described how mayors in Park Ridge, Montvale and Woodcliff Lake vowed to work together on a regional approach to affordable housing.
However, O’Sullivan said, the towns ultimately did not cooperate, which was in contrast to Planning Board Chairman John DePinto’s statement in April when he expressed regret that the towns of Park Ridge and Montvale did not cooperate together with Hornrock to meet affordable housing needs.
Mayor Michael Ghassali, a member, took exception to O’Sullivan’s comments about Montvale as going its own way as “100% false” and said the towns went their separate ways because “each of the town’s had their own priorities.”
He said O’Sullivan’s charges that the towns did not work together was “all this false announcements, all this fake news.”
O’Sullivan said he disagreed with Ghassali, citing Pascack Press’s 2017 report and his involvement with an affordable housing committee a few years ago.
O’Sullivan said he did not agree “with manipulations of ordinances” by local officials in approving the Hornrock application for a 185-unit development in Montvale.
He said traffic also was not considered, including the partly-leased Hertz building. Applicant attorney Peter Wolfson said that the traffic engineer’s estimates were “conservative” and likely did take a leased Hertz building into account.
While Hornrock may have won a small battle here tonight to overdevleop the Montvale portion of their property, I believe that the people of the tri-borough understand that the issue will be challenged and we will not give up until we prevail,” said O’Sullivan.
Voting to move forward with a resolution of approval, most members cited Superior Court mandates to provide affordable housing, the applicant’s new design and changes to provide a 100% Montvale-based complex, and a need to provide affordable housing
“I think it’s much better design with the change-up that Hornrock developers did,” said Councilwoman Rose Curry.
She said she looked forward to “what a great neighbor Hornrock developers will be for Montvale. I’m assuming that they’re going to have a presence in town that will be a positive presence in terms of support for our town,” she added.
DePinto thanked Hornrock for “listening to the board” and adopting board suggestions to improve the proposal.
The Montvale Council next meets July 9 at 7:30 p.m.