TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Following a unanimous Planning Board approval of the 66-unit Viviano American Dream Estates single-family and townhome development, the board must vote on a resolution of approval.
Officials will then formulate a developer’s agreement on a construction timeline.
Meanwhile, residents are still questioning the value of a 10-year-old county traffic study on the project, and what impact, if any, the development might have on the school system.
The next regular meeting of the Township Council is Oct. 4. The next regular meeting of the Planning Board is Oct. 6.
The 5-0 Planning Board decision on Sept. 22 came after nearly two decades of wrangling over affordable housing and the project’s density, and disputes with neighbors and other residents over stormwater, traffic, sewage pump lines, and privacy concerns.
The approved amended project encompasses a 66-unit development on 14 acres at 463 Van Emburgh Ave., including 42 single-family lots, 24 fee-simple townhouse lots, one private common open space lot to serve the townhouses detention basin and sewage pump station, and one boulevard/median lot to be located in a public right-of-way on Genevieve Drive.
The project site lies near Immaculate Heart Academy, and between Van Emburgh Avenue and the Garden State Parkway.
The applicant sought approval on an amended preliminary major site plan approval and an amended preliminary major subdivision approval.
(See “American Dream Estates wins planning approval,” Pascack Press, Sept. 27, 2021.)
Planning Board attorney Louis Lamatina laid out a series of stipulations, including engineering and technical approvals, that needed to be spelled out in a resolution of approval, likely to be voted on at the board’s Oct. 6 or Nov. 3 meeting.
It was not clear by press time when the resolution would be officially approved. Lamatina told Pascack Press that the resolution would not be publicly available before the meeting. However, the Sept. 22 meeting provided a clue to the resolution’s likely contents.
Lamatina noted conditions included an agreed tree replacement plan, including a $61,250 contribution to the township’s not-yet established tree trust; a net decrease in stormwater flows off-site meeting applicable state regulations; copy of a letter from the state Turnpike Authority agreeing with the applicant’s stormwater management plan; confirmation from town engineer Paul Azzolina that the stormwater plan is in compliance with DEP regulations; confirmation that the soil removal/replacement numbers are valid; and a Planning Board/attorney review of the homeowners association agreement.
Shimanowitz said he agreed to all the conditions listed by Lamatina.
Lamatina said because the affordable housing agreement approved for the Viviano American Dream property predated Calamari as mayor, he did not see a need for the mayor to recuse himself from voting on the application. The agreement was approved in 2001.
Calamari has a personal connection to the application in that his father, August, was chairman of the Planning Board in 2004, when Viviano won preliminary approval for the project. That didn’t come up at the Sept. 22 meeting and no one objected to the mayor’s vote on the application.
Before voting to approve, Mayor Peter Calamari said “a large part of my vote and decision” was based on the agreement worked out between the applicant and neighbors. “I appreciate both sides’ hard work and the fact that we did not get a lot of input from the neighbors tonight; I hope that means they’re as happy as they can be with what’s going on.”
(For background, see “Township fears lawsuit in Viviano application challenges,” Pascack Press, Sept. 3, 2019.)
Murphy thanked attorneys Shimanowitz and John J. Lamb — the latter representing Concerned Citizens of Washington Township — for “working everything out, to work out the issues that the residents of the area had with this project, and that everybody is as happy as they can be with this project at this point in time. Thank you for all your work on that,” he added.
Lamb said he wanted to make sure that the proposed development creates no impacts due to stormwater runoff on his clients’ nearby properties on Katharina Place.
The settlement agreement with Viviano includes landscape buffers, reduced number of lots adjoining Katharina Place residences, and a provision holding the developer responsible for any future stormwater impacts.
Shimanowitz said the development’s homeowners association would solely own the on-site sewage pump station for the 66-unit complex and that the township has no responsibility for its functioning.
He said the association had agreed to put $70,000 in escrow for emergency repairs and will have a licensed engineer to maintain the facility.
Shimanowitz pointed out that Vivian Court will be a privately owned street, which the townhomes will front, and be maintained by its homeowners association. He said that Genevieve Drive and James Anthony Avenue will be public streets maintained by the town, including snow plowing.
Since its original application in 2001, and original approval in 2004, the development has been beset by legal battles over affordable housing, wastewater management issues and lately with neighbors over potential stormwater impacts and privacy concerns.
Questions about the project’s high-density development and potential stormwater impacts on nearby homes were settled over time: first by reducing the complex from 73 units to 66 units and a separate legal settlement between the Concerned Citizens of Washington Township (mainly neighbors on nearby Katharina Place) and an attorney for American Dream Estates.
The Sept. 22 special meeting was the fifth hearing on Viviano’s amended preliminary site plan — its initial hearings began in 2018 — and the final two-hour hearing featured technical questions, attorney summaries, a few public comments, and the board’s vote.
Tree code yields $61K contribution
Shimanowitz and members Sears and Calamari agreed on a tree replacement plan for the 826 trees being removed. Given the township’s 2:1 replacement ordinance passed in 2013, the applicant is required to provide 1,652 replacement trees on site, which would be approximately 39 trees on each property lot, which cannot physically be done.
The applicant agreed to plant 585 trees on site, plus over 2,000 shrubs and bushes, and donate $61,250 for the planting of 175 trees town-wide, based on an agreed cost of $350 apiece.
Sears said a recent Green Team inventory showed 205 trees were needed in the town’s five parks, and the town received a state forestry grant this year to plant 30 trees. That left 175 trees that needed to be added in local parks, he said.
While agreeing to the plan, Shimanowitz said he wished to reserve his client’s right to contest the pact based upon the tree replacement ordinance’s passage in 2013. That was nine years after the original Viviano approval for a 73-unit development passed the Planning Board in 2004.
The ordinance allows exceptions, Shimanowitz said, noting the tree replacement requirements can be waived under certain circumstances if the applicant cannot replace removed trees at a 2:1 ratio.
In residents’ own words
Koch Peak Avenue resident Tommy Snee asked whether the township would have responsibility for sewage pump station maintenance and was told by Shimanowitz that it would be the responsibility of the homeowners’ association.
Shimanowitz also confirmed a prior agreement that sets up a $70,000 escrow account with the township for pump station contingencies.
A copy of the draft homeowners association agreement was to be provided by Shimanowitz to be reviewed by Lamatina to make sure it includes all the conditions the applicant agreed to.
Snee wondered how many bedrooms were in planned units. Azzolina said that most townhomes will have three bedrooms while the single-family homes will mostly have four bedrooms.
Two-year resident Anthony Snarski wondered how the development would affect local taxes, schools, and traffic on Van Emburgh Avenue.
He also noted the Garden State Parkway’s Exit 168 exit ramp, which empties onto Washington Avenue, had been the scene of accidents and wondered if that had been considered.
Azzolina noted that Van Emburgh Avenue is a county road (as is Washington Avenue) and that the county traffic study was conducted 10 years ago.
Calamari added that the municipality and school district were “two separate bodies” and he could not comment on school impacts. He said, “More students will need more teachers; that’s as far as I’m willing to comment at this time.”
Resident Mary Gozell said a 10-year-old traffic study on Van Emburgh Avenue was not adequate. She said it was up to the town to contact the county and request an updated study.
While Calamari said he would request a study, Shimanowitz said the Viviano site is zoned as a planned single-family/townhouse district and “off-site traffic is not relevant — really not an issue before the board at this time.”