BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF PASCACK PRESS
MONTVALE, N.J. —— The borough council is scheduled to likely vote tonight — Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. — on whether to adopt an agreement to settle its affordable housing obligations with Fair Share Housing Center and three intervenors.
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In late September, and under public pressure, the council tabled a settlement agreement – by a vote of 4-3 with Mayor Mike Ghassali breaking the tie — that would have allowed a developer to construct 350 units of multi-family housing on the Mercedes-Benz property.
Reached by phone today, Ghassali said that while a vote is likely, negotiations are ongoing and the specific development numbers are not yet finalized.
But in a Nov. 3 Mayor’s Update email, Ghassali wrote that tonight’s settlement proposal includes the following:
• “A&P [2 Paragon Drive]: 80 for sale townhouses with 20 percent inclusionary affordable units;
• “Sony: 185 for rent units with 20 percent inclusionary affordable units;
• “Mercedes-Benz: 350 for rent with 15 percent inclusionary affordable units, hotel, Class A office space and retail space.
Ghassali wrote, relating to Mercedes-Benz’s former campus, “the developer agreed to redesign the structures to better fit with the neighboring Wegman’s site and the general overall fit with our town’s character.”
The Mercedes-Benz site is owned by The S. Hekemian Group of Englewood, N.J., which also owns the neighboring Wegman’s site, built on the former DePiero’s Country Farm.
The Sony Campus – which sits on a 37-acre campus, with seven acres in Montvale and most of its remaining land in Park Ridge – is owned by Hornrock Properties LLC. Hornrock in 2015 proposed building 714 residential units at the site, with 159 in Montvale and 555 in Park Ridge, Pascack Press reported at the time. It’s not immediately clear what a settlement from the Borough of Montvale will mean for neighboring Borough of Park Ridge, which is negotiating its own affordable housing obligations in concurrent proceedings.
Three resolutions addressing the “realistic development potential” (or RDP) of each property for affordable housing are on tonight’s Montvale Borough Council agenda.
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The resolutions on tonight’s agenda propose 21 affordable units for former A&P property (2 Paragon Drive); 37 units for Sony property; and 70 units for the Mercedes-Benz and Glenview sites.
Although tonight’s agenda, including resolutions, is posted online, no advance copies of the proposed affordable housing settlement appear to be publicly available until tonight’s meeting.
In his Nov. 3 email, the mayor thanked residents for “generally refraining from taking part in public forums regarding ongoing litigation. In other towns, public comments have been referenced in court pleadings and used against the towns. Montvale is a welcoming town and I urge you to continue to allow us to work through the pending litigation in a restrained and respectful manner,” emailed Ghassali.
Efforts to reach special counsel Jeff Surenian and borough attorney Joseph Voytus today for updates on the pending settlement agreement were not immediately returned before this article appeared.
A series of landmark New Jersey Supreme Court rulings dating back to 1975 decree all state municipalities have an obligation to allow for the reasonable creation of housing for low- and moderate-income residents. Montvale, like most state municipalities, has been negotiating with state courts regarding just how much affordable housing the borough must allow for as part of declaratory judgment proceeding.