WOODCLIFF LAKE—Residents should get at least one more opportunity to provide input on a new comprehensive Master Plan update — now costing up to $70,000 — before it advances from the Planning and Zoning boards to the mayor and council for a final vote near the end of 2021, said the Master Plan Committee’s chairperson.
The Master Plan, now in draft, will provide an overall blueprint for how Woodcliff Lake develops, or redevelops, and also set design guidelines and standards for future land use over the next decade.
The next two council meetings are Dec. 6 and 20.
Given recent debates over impacts from developments, traffic, and new mixed-use (retail/residential) growth occurring in Pascack Valley, the plan may also urge planners/zoners to keep in touch with county planning officials to help them better address regional impacts on the borough, said officials and residents at a recent meeting.
Residents should have another chance for input, according to Master Plan Committee Chair Josephine Higgins, a former mayor and councilwoman.
She told Pascack Press that once the updated circulation and utilities element is added and reviewed, she hoped a finalized plan would be up for review at the Council’s final regular session of the year, Dec. 20.
Recently the Borough Council approved an extra $20,000 for a circulation and utilities study to be done by its engineer, Neglia Engineering, and added to the updated Master Plan document prepared by planning consultant Phillips, Preiss, Grygiel, Leheney, Hughes, who was hired in February for $50,000 to complete a comprehensive update.
The last comprehensive update was done in 2002, said officials. Moreover, the local Master Plan came under attack in 2019 when applicant 188 Broadway LLC first proposed a 60-unit rental apartment complex in a former office building along the busy Broadway Corridor. That application was denied unanimously in summer 2019 by the Zoning Board.
The Broadway Corridor itself has long been studied and remains one of the borough’s much-debated land uses opposite Woodcliff Lake Reservoir. The area is a mix of zoning, with 188 Broadway partly zoned S-O (Special Office District) and R-15, or Residential, One-Family District (15,000 square feet).
Most other parcels along Broadway are zoned B-1 (Broadway East and West) Business District., and directly behind the two Broadway zones is R-15 zoning.
Recently, the same developer proposed a scaled-back 53-unit rental apartment complex at 188 Broadway, requiring fewer variances, and the Zoning Board denied the application. The board cited the legal principle res judicata, a Latin phrase meaning “the thing has been judged,” to reject the application, saying they rejected a similar application in 2019.
Applicant attorneys said the 2021 and 2019 proposals for 188 Broadway were substantially different, but the borough’s attorney disagreed. The applicant twice applied for a use variance to change the S-O district to allow multi-family residential housing, recently citing a “hardship” due to Covid and a diminished market for office space.
The applicant’s 2021 proposal was denied based on res judicata, not the merits of its revised 53-unit application. The office space remains unoccupied at 188 Broadway, a source of friction between the applicant and Zoning Board members during both proposals where it sought a use variance for multi-family housing.
Both rejections are being appealed by the developer. Allegations in 2019 that the Master Plan was “outdated” and not in effect due to its lack of comprehensive overhaul in over 10 years have not yet been decided in court, though borough attorneys argued more recent reexaminations had updated the document.
In related news, another application up for a Zoning Board hearing Dec. 14 by 216 Broadway LLC looks to convert a mixed-use building containing three residential units and retail space into a multi-family structure with six residential units. The special board meeting will review the proposal’s request for a use variance where the zone is single-family but a mixed-use pre-exists and the applicant seeks a multi-family use.
The Master Plan: New & Improved?
During a discussion of the new draft Comprehensive Master Plan before the Zoning Board in late October, the Broadway Corridor was discussed, along with future Master Plan elements likely to require Council actions to approve ordinances and possibly implement new zoning or land uses.
Zoning Board Chair Christina Hembree suggested that an architectural review board might help design standards for the Broadway Corridor and board attorney Salvatore Princiotto said the three different Broadway zones (R-15, S-O, and B-1) offer land-use options but that there needs to be a vision for Broadway.
Hembree reminded zoners that many concerns are regional in nature and that the borough needs to work with surrounding towns to coordinate development and its impacts.
It was suggested that the Master Plan would recommend the borough work with Bergen County and it was also mentioned that a monthly Pascack Valley mayors’ meeting may be another resource for planners/zoners to collaborate on regional concerns.
During public comment, Veronica Appelle suggested that the draft Master Plan recommendations be made public. Liz Leheny, borough planning consultant, said that as part of the Master Plan process, the recommendations were presented to the planning and zoning boards, and public comment solicited, with final decisions to be made by the Borough Council.
Neither the recommendations nor draft Master Plan has yet been made public.
When resident Ann Marie Borelli said she agreed that there needed to be a more cohesive approach to proposed development on Broadway, she also asked why more open space cannot be allowed there.
Leheny said there would be a future walking trail around the reservoir — a 1.5 mile trail that has been discussed and stalled for years — but Leheny did agree there should be a unifying design standard for the Broadway Corridor.
One resident noted much empty retail space exists along the Corridor and Leheny said that the retail sector is currently struggling. Another resident suggested that townhomes be considered in lieu of retail or office space along Broadway.
Higgins said that the plan should offer options for large tracts of land that may become open in the future, such as BMW’s headquarters, and look at options for possible conversion of commercial space into residential around Tice Center. She noted that zoning ordinances must still be approved to implement any Master Plan recommendations.
Higgins said she hoped the draft can be posted so that residents can view the plan before a final vote.
“We have to figure out how much housing we’re going to get and figure out the schooling involved with that,” Higgins told Pascack Press on Nov. 24, noting schools may need to expand if more students are coming into town.
She said an updated demographics study would provide a better tool for planners/zoners to understand population trends, local impacts, and where the town may be heading.
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