MONTVALE, N.J.—A Nov. 18 fairness hearing will consider whether Montvale’s affordable housing plan can allow a data center at the 34-acre KPMG site off Chestnut Ridge Road if the developer also provides 50 affordable housing units. Interested parties’ written comments or objections are due Sept. 25.
The hearing before Superior Court Judge Lina P. Corriston at Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack concerns Montvale’s latest amendment to its Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan. The amendment would require developer S. Hekemian Group, or SHG Montvale, to provide 50 affordable units whether it develops the site for housing or a data center.
The hearing follows nearly a year of legal disputes involving Montvale, SHG Montvale and Fair Share Housing Center. The developer previously reached a settlement agreement with the borough, which contends SHG should be able to determine which use is most appropriate for the site.
What the amendment changes
A public notice posted Sept. 4 on Montvale’s website explains that the amendment would replace a development fee under the data center option with a requirement to provide affordable housing:
“The Program Terms envisioned that the (KPMG) site would be rezoned, via redevelopment plan to permit either a) 250 units of which 50 units would be affordable or b) a data center, which would require a non-residential development fee. The Amendment modifies these two outcomes as follows: 250 units of which 50 units would be affordable or b) a data center and 50 affordable units without an imposition of a non-residential development fee. In other words, the data center is modified by replacing the non-residential development fee with a mandatory 50 units of affordable housing.”
The fairness hearing is limited to the new amendment. Interested parties may submit written comments or objections to the SHG Montvale Settlement Agreement to Judge Corriston at Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack on or before Sept. 25.
Data center option draws opposition
The data center alternative has generated controversy and protests from residents and non-residents since its inclusion in Montvale’s Fourth Round plan. At recent council meetings, Mayor Michael Ghassali has stressed to speakers opposing the use that no data center has yet been proposed for the site.
Fair Share Housing Center, a statewide affordable housing advocate, has repeatedly and strongly opposed the alternative.
“Montvale’s settlement agreement with the developer (SHG Montvale) says that the ground floor area of the data center is 322,822 square feet. That’s very large for a data center in a suburban municipality and in line with the size of hyperscale data centers like the kind that are being developed for A.I. If this is meaningfully different from the type of data centers residents are concerned about, then Montvale could release clear information about the facility’s expected energy use, cooling systems, backup generators, water demand, and operational profile,” Fair Share spokesperson Jag Davies previously told us.
“And in any case, the distinction between ‘traditional’ and AI data centers is overstated. Modern data centers increasingly support a mix of computing uses, including cloud services and AI workloads, and facilities can evolve over time,” Davies said.
“The bottom line is that a 322,822 sq. ft. facility is still a massive industrial use on Montvale’s largest redevelopment site and one of the largest redevelopment sites in all of Bergen County. Residents deserve transparency about its impacts and why affordable housing is being tied to this proposal,” Davies emailed.
He added, “The question is whether this is really a plan to create housing, or a plan to use affordable housing as a way to make the data center possible.”
Related redevelopment hearing Oct. 6
The Planning Board will hold a separate public hearing Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers to determine whether 3 and 51 Chestnut Ridge Road—the KPMG property—along with 25 Phillips Parkway and 1 Glenview Road constitute a non-condemnation redevelopment area. A public notice is posted on the borough website.
The mayor and council authorized the study Jan. 8, 2026, to determine whether the properties meet statutory criteria for a non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment.
Borough Planner Darlene Green conducted the Determination of Need Study, which will be discussed Oct. 6. Officials said it should be posted online before the hearing.
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