TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, N.J.—Mayor Peter Calamari knew his audience at the annual Breakfast with the Greater Pascack Valley Mayors on Jan. 29, leading with an update on “the infamous intersection” of Pascack Road and Washington Avenue.
“I’m happy to say we finally have a final design from the county on how that’s going to map out,” he said, adding that negotiations over easements was in progress.
“That will help the traffic in our town greatly. Coming off of [Garden State Parkway Exit] 168—anyone who does that on a regular basis—we’re hoping that intersection project will help the commuters who use that greatly.”
(For more, see Intersection Construction Not Possible For 2020, Says County, Dec. 30, 2019.)
The mayor’s remarks were part of an update to the 55-year-old Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce, which for years has been hosting the breakfast at The Iron Horse in Westwood. The public was invited.
(For more, see Mayors Dish Over Breakfast: Amazon’s Impact, Housing Mandates, More, Feb. 3 with sidebars on each town.)
Introduced by former Westwood Mayor Skip Kelley, who serves on the GPVCOC board, the organization’s president, Robin Malley of Friedberg Properties, set the tone for the roughly hourlong event, airing concerns about vacant storefronts and increasing traffic.
Calamari, who followed Park Ridge Mayor Keith Misciagna, whose borough is in court resisting “forced high-density development,” suggested that the township stands mostly out of the fray.
“As far as Fair Share Housing [Center], I’m happy to say that because Washington Township has virtually no commercial land we don’t have any big tracts of land to develop on,” Calamari said.
He briefly described the township’s settlement with FSHC, which led to the creation of two overlay zones that could accommodate affordable housing. He said these lots are privately owned and are thought not at risk of selling out “in the near future.”
The mayor referred to some new affordable rentals going up in the township: On Dec. 4, 2019 the Planning Board finally saw renderings of a multifamily inclusionary housing development on Van Emburgh Avenue that was agreed in a 2015 affordable housing settlement.
Franklin Court LLC presented elevations and a conceptual grading plan of an upscale development bound for block 1102, lots 1.04, 2, 9, and 11.
Both Franklin Court LLC and FSHC were intervenors in a declaratory judgment the township filed in 2015 seeking immunity from builder’s remedy lawsuits.
Under the terms of the settlement, Franklin Court LLC will build a 44-unit complex, mostly two-bedrooms, on Van Emburgh Avenue, with seven units on site designated for affordable housing.
The developer also agreed to build two single-family units on one lot and contribute $250,000 in a payment in lieu of taxes, bound for the township’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
The matter will return to the Planning Board for a hearing.
“These are the first rentals in Washington Township but we welcome them; we think it’s going to be a good project,” Calamari said.
Taking the wide view
But, he added, “What no one [at the breakfast] has spoken about is the tax impact that all of this new development is going to put on our school systems. That’s going to be a big tax burden for the residents in addition to adding to the traffic and what all the other mayors have said.”
Calamari said, “That’s a great concern, at least for me and [Westwood Mayor] Ray [Arroyo] and the Westwood Regional School District, as that’s obviously going to have its challenges for [our] taxpayers.”
Indeed, the Westwood Regional School District has prioritized a demographics and facilities study in light of housing developments proposed in the area, including the late James Viviano’s American Dream Estates, long eyed for 463 Van Emburgh Ave.
Superintendent of School Ray Gonzalez confirmed that on Jan. 16 the Board of Education approved a contract with Statistical Forecasting LLC to conduct a demographic and facilities feasibility study.
“The work is underway and we look forward to a public presentation in the near future when it is complete,” Gonzalez said.
Special counsel Bell off Viviano matter; Lamatina takes over
Hearings on the Viviano project go back to 2002. After the township and Viviano settled litigation related to the Mount Laurel Doctrine for affordable housing in 2001, the property was zoned for single-family homes and townhouses.
Viviano, armed with preliminary major approval for the site, kept the township on tenterhooks for many years before coming back in a final push with dozens of variances and a major addition: a sewerage pumping station. There is no affordable housing planned at that site.
The applicants have been benefitting from a woodland tax break at the site—and regular monthly hearing extensions—but the Planning Board on Jan. 8 signaled its growing impatience, electing not to renew Allen Bell as the township’s special counsel in the matter, in favor of board attorney Louis Lamatina.
Habitat homes debut
The township got affordable housing credit for special needs group homes on Calvin Street and Ridgewood Boulevard, the redevelopment of the former VFW site on Jefferson Avenue as four affordable units for seniors and veterans, and the two subsequent overlay zones.
Habitat for Humanity of Bergen County hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Dec. 7 for senior and veteran families at 643, 645, 647, and 649 Jefferson Ave.
(For more, see Bergen Habitat, at 25, Cuts Ribbon on Homes in Township of Washington, Dec. 20, 2019.)
Foodtown set to convert brand
Of the retail sphere, Calamari said, “Our downtown area is our one strip mall [Washington Town Center]. I’m happy to say that there’s just one vacancy in there so our local economy is doing good and our residents are supporting the strip mall.”
Speaking of Washington Town Center, in October we reported that New Jersey’s four Foodtown supermarkets, including the one at the center, are converting to The Fresh Grocer.
The rebranded stores “will continue to offer restaurant-quality take home meals with best in market pricing, and a wide variety of high quality fresh foods at low prices,” the Maniaci family and its Nicholas Markets company said last week.
According to a press release on Feb. 4, the local store is changing over on Feb. 21.