TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—An architect hired by the township presented preliminary plans March 21 for a residential-style DPW building and garages at the former Charlie Brown’s restaurant site at 95 Linwood Ave.
A half-dozen neighbors said they were worried about traffic, noise, and pollution from the proposed town operation. Abutters within 200 feet also include residents of Paramus.
Residents at the council meeting sounded off on the town’s secrecy on the matter, leading council president Desserie Morgan to agree with at least one Hemlock Drive resident that he should have been notified as “a courtesy to give you a heads up… I feel terrible and we should have notified you.”
DPW officials have been shaping plans for months
Architect Anthony Iovino, of Arcari Iovino, showed concept renderings of DPW offices, a garage for storing heavy duty vehicles and equipment, employee/visitor parking and a salt dome toward the rear of the triangular site.
The architect has met with DPW officials and the mayor and council over the past few months to develop the designs.
Later, the council voted, 4-1, to approve an ordinance that appropriated $1.35 million in bonds to purchase the site. Councilman Steven Cascio voted no.
Also, council approved two resolutions March 21 to hire two consultants for an engineering survey (Azzolina & Feury) and environmental site assessment (Lisko Environmental) of the property.
Officials said this wasTraffic, quality of life concerns debut with township’s DPW plans required as part of the “due diligence” required on the site before closing.
Councilmen Tom Sears and Cascio voted against hiring Azzolina & Feury; Cascio voted against hiring Lisko. Neither man explained his vote. No costs were disclosed for either consultant study.
Several residents also raised the possibility that the facility might reduce their property values. Morgan said she did not see that happening; Cascio said that may be a possibility.
Former Independent councilman Michael DeSena, who lost his 2021 bid for mayor against incumbent Peter Calamari, a Republican, told Pascack Press recently, “It wasn’t good enough for the people at Sherry Field but these poor people on Hemlock Drive, they’re stuck with this. They were given no advance notice.”
He said, “These houses are closer [to anticipated operations] than the ones at Sherry Field.”
(See “Sherry Field, Dog House area, and Westwood out as DPW sites as state DEP deadline looms,” Pascack Press, “Feb. 1, 2021.)
Officials said they were probably about a year or so away from seeing any construction begin on site, noting more public sessions would be held where residents can provide input on the site design.
Township professionals noted that while they are not bound by local building and zoning codes, they vowed to neighbors to make the facility as nice and quiet as possible.
Councilwoman Daisy Velez cited a similar DPW facility built in Fairview as an example of a residential-looking structure. She suggested that Iovino provide a model of what the site will look like to neighbors on Hemlock Drive.
He said he would do that for a future meeting.
Some neighbors wanted to make sure that the site’s driveway leading to Hemlock Drive remained an “emergency only” exit, as they said they were told by Calamari, and officials noted that the use of the driveway was not yet determined.
However, officials said they hoped it might remain mostly for emergency use to minimize vehicle traffic on Hemlock Drive.
For the time being the township’s heavy road machinery is parked on a lease at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, across from the high school, on Ridgewood Road.
The longstanding DPW site at the municipal center was razed, and toxic soil beneath it was recently remediated.
Calamari has for years been searching for a new site for the DPW, even looking beyond township borders.
He said there would be no major DPW use for the land the town is spending substantially for to acquire the 6.4-acre private Washington Township Swim and Recreation Club. (See “Questions as town shapes $800,000 grant bid on swim club,” Pascack Press, March 19, 2022).
Driveway opposite Highland Avenue, so far
Iovino showed conceptual drawings and a site rendering that featured a single driveway off Linwood Avenue for entering and exiting. The driveway would be directly opposite Highland Avenue, which he said made the most sense for traffic flow.
Iovino said that all DPW activity would happen toward the site’s Garden State Parkway side. He said the main DPW building would be toward the front of the site, and set back at least 25 feet from the property line.
He said greenery would help shield the site and buildings from neighbors and passersby.
Vinyl fence, but Dumpsters stand out
Morgan suggested a vinyl fence behind the green buffer might also help to better screen the site. Looking at Iovino’s initial rendering, she said it looked like Dumpsters might be visible from the street.
Officials and Iovino stressed that the site drawings were an initial rendering of what the site may look like, though Iovino noted that the building locations seemed to work out best for DPW operations on the “unusual” triangular site.
Sears said that solar panels should be on the building roof, noting grant dollars are available now for such an environment-friendly upgrade.
Officials also stressed that a traffic study needs to be conducted to determine the new DPW facility’s impacts on local traffic flow and would be completed. Administrator Robert Tovo said that the study would be done.
Residents speak out
Nearby residents complained about likely reduced property values, added traffic, site noise, diesel vehicle pollution, increased traffic accidents, and traffic backups. Several residents who spoke were offered two chances to voice concerns about the proposed site.
Hemlock Drive resident Rose Candeletti said she bought on a dead end so there would be no traffic and that she and her husband were preparing to retire.
She said she was upset because the township did not notify her or other residents within 200 feet of its planned purchase of 95 Linwood Ave. and the site’s likely use, and that in fact the town and the seller had told her the Montessori school was going in.
“Now this already getting voted on tonight, to buy the land for the DPW” she said, her voice wavering.
“It’s outrageous… Why was all this done behind closed doors? What was all the secrecy about?” Candeletti, said. “And don’t tell me it was because of the negotiations. We didn’t want to know about the negotiations; we wanted to know about the project.”
She explained she pays $21,000 in property taxes and that she was “very upset over this for the fact that I was lied to and for the fact that not even one person on this council had the decency to send out a letter to eight homeowners on the street.”
Candeletti said more needed to be done to increase the green buffer between Hemlock homes and the site.
She said, “Linwood Avenue is the most direct route off Route 17 to get to our town. The traffic gets backed up now past Charlie Brown’s at commuting hours, and Highland intersects, Ridgewood Ave. intersects…”
And she said, “When the restaurant was open there were so many accidents at all hours of the day and night… and now with trucks and all there’s going to be more.”
She noted that Calamari told her the driveway onto Hemlock would be used only as an emergency exit for DPW vehicles.
Morgan and Feeney said a sound barrier would be explored to surround the site. Both said they had taken notes on Candeletti’s comments and other public comments. Both said Candeletti had “a lot of support” among the council for her suggestions.
Sixty-year Hemlock Drive resident John Kral said he was only notified about the meeting by reading about it in the paper and noted nearby residents should have been provided notice.
Kral questioned whether local officials would grant him a permit to put up a large DPW garage on the former Charlie Brown’s property.
He said, “This is absolutely disappointing” and that traffic was already bad in the area. “You come in and do whatever you want… the least you could have done is talk with us on Hemlock Drive.”
Poller then told Kral of the township’s on-again, off-again interest in the site, and noted by the time the township was interested the owner had entered into a contract with Apple Montessori Schools.
Poller said the property was first up for rental but that “the idea of the property being purchased at all was not a foregone conclusion until early this year.”
Poller said the township was not governed by the town’s zoning restrictions and did not need variances to put its DPW facility on the property.
He noted that had Apple Montessori Schools purchased the property it would have needed a use variance for the site, which is zoned for single-family homes.
Morgan told Kral that she thought he had been notified of the purchase and that he should have been notified as a “courtesy to give you a heads up… I feel terrible and we should have notified you.”
When Mark Candeletti of Hemlock Drive asked if officials felt the new DPW moving in next door would lower Hemlock Drive property values, Cascio said he believed it would but that residents should be able to sell their properties.
Morgan, however, said the former Charlie Brown’s property “looked like a shed” and now that the township owns the site, she said it would be easier for neighbors to get their complaints addressed than with a privately owned site.
Morgan said she was “going to make sure that this is the prettiest it can be and the least bit of an eyesore it can be.”
Pascack Press reached out in February mailings to all Hemlock Drive residents, and other abutters, after it came to light that the township had its eye on 95 Linwood Ave.
We referred to our stories “Town to grab Charlie Brown’s site from under Montessori School?” (Jan. 24, 2022) and “Hardball $1.3M bid on Charlie Brown’s property” (Jan. 28, 2022), and sought views on the possibility that the purchase was intended for a DPW headquarters.
— With John Snyder