TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—An improved major intersection and a new Emergency Services Building might not be the only two improvements coming to the Pascack Road–Washington Avenue crossroads.
Two new retail buildings comprising more than 17,000 square feet of retail space — one of 14,700 square feet and one of 2,400 square feet — are proposed there by the owners of Seasons Catering, a longstanding event and catering hall.
The proposal, tentatively called “4 Seasons Town Square” (in some materials “4 Seasons Marketplace”) would cover approximately three-quarters of the 2.16-acre site north of Seasons. The site contains several dilapidated houses deemed unsafe but also unsightly, homes that have sat vacant for years.
Floor plans provided offer a glimpse of owners’ thinking on tenants: a deli, sporting goods store, beauty salon, bank, breakfast place, juice/gelato store, and cellular phone store.
The township’s retail hub for years has been Washington Town Center, anchored by The Fresh Grocer and Rite Aid, at 285 Pascack Road.
A first hearing for the application, which will require a use variance — or change in land use zoning — plus other variances and waivers, is set for the Zoning Board of Adjustment on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom.
Application materials may be viewed on the ZBA website or viewed by appointment, Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the board secretary’s office in town hall.
The application identifies 23 property owners within 200 feet of the proposed development.
The consolidated lots cover Block 2110, Lots 6-11, 660-682 Pascack Road, and are zoned “AA” for residential development. The application requests a use variance for the site to convert the lots into an expanded retail development. The proposal provides 108 parking spaces.
The busy intersection is being upgraded by Bergen County Engineering under a shared services agreement with the township, with improvements likely to be completed by early 2023.
The county roads’ nexus has long been a bottleneck, especially during rush hours as trucks, buses, and cars crisscross the intersection — many coming off of Exit 168 on the Garden State Parkway.
Also near the intersection is the township’s new Emergency Services Building, which will serve the volunteer fire department and ambulance corps. Fire department operations have moved in, and the ambulance corps has agreed to delay move-in while work continues. A grand opening is planned later this fall.
We reached out to the applicant attorney, McDonnell & Whitaker LLC, Ramsey, for more information.
According to the public notice published Sept. 29, the applicant seeks the following waivers and variances:
- Front yard setback of 10 feet and 3.25 feet for off street parking where off street parking is not permitted;
- Waiver to permit parking stalls to be 162 square feet where 180 square feet is required and a stall depth of 18 feet where 20 feet is required;
- Variance to permit two monument signs to be a height of 4.67 feet with internal illumination with an area of 28 square feet where monument signs are not permitted in the zone.
In addition, the applicant requests that “the application be deemed amended to include, and the board grant any additional approvals, variances, exceptions, or waivers determined to be necessary or desirable in the review and processing of this application, whether requested by the applicant, the board or otherwise. Furthermore, to the extent deemed necessary, the applicant requests variance and/or waiver relief for any and all other pre-existing nonconforming site conditions.”
According to the proposal application, impervious area will increase from the existing 15,333 square feet to 69,696 square feet, increasing from 16.3% to 74.5 percent. According to code, maximum permitted local coverage is 75%.
Last December, we reported township officials were concerned that at least three properties opposite Seasons Catering — marked as unsafe by red placards with a large “X” across entryways — were not cited for property maintenance violations despite their longstanding vacancy and deterioration.
All three properties are owned by 660 Pascack Realty LLC, whose owners include James Kourgelis (67.3%); George Kourgelis (16.7%); and Carl Carfello (16.7%). James Kourgelis, an owner of Seasons Catering, has signed the proposal’s use variance application as a managing member.
In March 2022, the township purchased easements for $158,000 on seven lots adjacent to the Pascack Road–Washington Avenue intersection for county intersection overhaul.
The seven lots were owned by 660 Pascack Realty LLC, whose principal owner is James Kourgelis, owner of Seasons Catering.
Over the past decade, and most recently in 2013, Kourgelis had been involved with applications to site other ventures adjacent to the nearby Pascack Road–Washington Avenue intersection, where the three vacant, deteriorating homes stand.
The previously proposed ventures for the corner lots — none of which came to pass — have included a parking lot, a CVS, a Dunkin’ Donuts, a liquor store, and then townhomes.
Kourgelis also reportedly offered to sell the properties back to the township during former mayor Janet Sobkowicz’s tenure and was reportedly told the township could not afford to buy them.
For more background, see “Vacant houses and the law: Absent owners said to keep paying, lapsing on bills,” Dec. 10, 2021, Pascack Press online.