TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—A final hearing on the two-decade-old Viviano project, which is poised to erect dozens of housing units as “American Dream Estates” on 14 acres at 463 Van Emburgh Ave., is scheduled for the Planning Board July 21.
The applicant, Viviano Estate et al, said June 2 that it had concluded its expert testimony and questions are now to be taken from board members and the public, with residents being given a final chance to comment on the application.
The project, near Immaculate Heart Academy and between Van Emburgh Avenue and the Garden State Parkway, is now planned for 66 units rather than the original 73 proposed.
The hearing marks the fifth on the revised proposal, which includes 42 single-family homes and 22 townhomes — and might address unresolved issues such as tree replacement.
A decision was delayed at the fourth hearing, June 2, as several board members needed to read transcripts of prior meetings and questions remained to be answered by the applicant’s engineer.
Viviano won preliminary final approval in 2004 as part of an affordable housing settlement but the project has been delayed in part by court battles over affordable housing and residents’ concerns over high-density housing and wastewater disposal and potential stormwater runoff impacts.
At the June 2 hearing, unresolved issues over how to adequately compensate the township for removed trees was raised.
When applicant engineer Brian Murphy mentioned that they were asking for “one waiver” to not follow the local tree replacement ordinance, which would have required them to place nearly 39 trees on every townhome property and single family lot, questions were raised about granting such a waiver.
The issue of the township’s declining tree canopy was chronicled in a recent environmental committee report, including its negative impacts on township quality of life.
Murphy said approximately 820 trees were to be removed and that would require more than 1,600 trees to be replaced and replanted on the site. However, that would require about 39 trees replanted on each of the properties in order to reduce the number of trees to be planted.
Mayor Peter Calamari raised the possibility of the applicant donating funds for trees. Applicant attorney Ron Shimanowitz said he was hopeful that attorneys “could figure something out along those lines” before the July 21 hearing.
Board Attorney Louis Lamatina said the applicant’s and township’s engineers would work on a solution for compensating the township for tree replacement.
Moreover, John Lamb, attorney for Concerned Citizens of Washington Township, provided a detailed breakdown of a signed settlement agreement reached between nearby Katharina Place homeowners and the applicant.
Lamb urged planners to include the settlement’s terms into the development’s final approval resolution.
Lamatina told Lamb that the Planning Board resolution of approval would reference the terms of the neighbors’ settlement agreement with Viviano. Lamb said the agreement specifies terms relating to landscape buffers, reduced number of lots behind Katharina Place homeowners, a buffer maintenance agreement, and a provision noting the agreement holds the applicant accountable for any future stormwater runoff impacts.
Lamb said he would hold off making any comment until Township Engineer Paul Azzolina can review the proposed project’s stormwater management system design and any impacts on the settlement agreement that the applicant signed off on with neighbors.
“Essentially, we are supporting the application,” Lamb said June 2, stressing that nearby homeowners want the stipulations agreed upon to be memorialized in the final township subdivision approval.
Shimanowitz said an affordable housing settlement on the Viviano tract in 2001 led to special zoning for the site as a Planned Single Family/Townhouse Zone District.
A Pascack Press review of public affordable housing trust fund documents determined that with fewer overall units being constructed on site — reduced from 73 to 66 units — the township is likely to receive almost $50,000 less for its trust fund due to two less affordable units being required.
The amount to be received upon project completion would drop to $325,000 from $375,000.
The township’s 20% set-aside for market-rate units equals 13 units, as opposed to 15 previously required, at the agreed reimbursal rate of $25,000 per affordable unit.
Since its affordable agreement originally made in 2001 with Viviano, the Township on its own has paid off its obligation to Bayonne for a regional contribution agreement but that payment appears unrelated to the 2001 Viviano affordable housing agreement. The township’s agreement with Viviano initially called for three payments of $125,000 each —none of which have been made by the applicant or required yet under its agreement.
Also, based on two online documents, a 2020 master’s report and a 2020 Washington Township Affordable Trust Fund Spending Plan, it appears none of the payments owed by either Viviano, or a future Viviano site developer, were tied to the township’s prior deal to execute a regional contribution agreement with Bayonne for 11 affordable housing credits.
That point had previously been raised by residents concerned that the applicant had not met or possibly could not meet its affordable obligations if they included a regional contribution agreement (RCA) payment.
New Jersey outlawed RCAs in 2008, finding they violated the spirit of the Mount Laurel doctrine and concentrated poverty in urban or distressed areas.
The doctrine is a judicial interpretation of the New Jersey State Constitution requiring that municipalities use their zoning powers in an affirmative manner to provide a realistic opportunity for the production of housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households.
The affordable obligations owed by the Viviano site developer are spelled out in a 20-year-old agreement posted on the township website.
The agreement, signed in 2001 by the applicant, was a payment in lieu of construction with three installments of $125,000 to be paid. The first installment was to be paid upon signing of the final subdivision site plan map or conclusion of all appeals from the adoption of the approving resolution.
That has not yet occurred. Moreover, neither of the two installments following — both contingent upon home and townhomes sales — have been paid off.
Those include a second installment of $125,000 paid upon closing of the title for sale of 25% of the units proposed to be constructed; a third installment of $125,000 was to paid upon the closing of title for sale of 50% of the units proposed for construction.
As we reported, this amount is likely to be reduced due to fewer market-rate units being sold.
The Master’s Report For a Mount Laurel Compliance Hearing estimated the $125,000 installments would be made in 2020, 2021 and 2022, but these were likely stalled due to last year’s Covid pandemic and related delays.
The 2020 Washington Township Affordable Housing Trust Fund Spending Plan, available on township website, makes clear what is owed and when based on the 2001 affordable housing agreement.