BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF PASCACK PRESS
RIVER VALE, N.J.—Here’s a primer on Wednesday’s upcoming first Joint Planning Board hearing on the Fairways at Edgewood proposal for a 249-unit multifamily housing development—including 24 affordable housing units on nine acres of Edgewood Country Club.
WHO: Fairways at Edgewood LLC (applicant).
WHAT: Application for 249-unit multifamily development (with 24 affordable housing units) before River Vale Joint Planning Board; 225 units are estimated to cost $700,000 to $1 million each and 24 affordable units will be housed in a separate facility.
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 16 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Holdrum Middle School New Gym, 393 Rivervale Road, River Vale.
WHY: Proposed inclusionary development is part of River Vale’s pending affordable housing settlement (a settlement fairness hearing to determine whether the plan satisfies affordable housing laws was scheduled Jan. 14 and 15 in Superior Court, Hackensack, before Judge Christine Farrington).
BACKGROUND: This hearing kicks off a likely series of public hearings over the next few months at Holdrum Middle School as professional experts hired by the applicant present testimony.
Testimony is expected to address specifics of the development, including environmental, demographic, traffic, noise, pollution, and stormwater, as well as possible impacts on municipal services, taxes and schools.
Mayor Glen Jasionowski postd two summaries in late November on the proposal and responding to residents’ concerns.
The planned 249-unit development encompasses 44 acres of a 187-acre golf course, and will take up nine holes of the property’s 27-hole golf course for new townhomes and quadplexes.
Jasionowski offered to meet with residents Jan. 7 at Town Hall to answer questions and visited with residents at nearby Holiday Farm development to discuss possible impacts and applicant’s proposed improvements.
Dozens of residents, many from Holiday Farm off of Piermont Road, jammed the Dec. 20 hearing at Town Hall, and members decided to postpone the application and hold the hearing at a larger facility to accommodate all interested residents.
The proposal seeks three variances: one for a height variance on a maintenance building; another for a 5-foot fence where 3 feet are permitted; and a permit for three large outdoor signs where only one is permitted.