EMERSON—Mayor Danielle DiPaola said the borough is awaiting answers to nine questions posed nearly two years ago before they can consider a zoning change request from Emerson Redevelopers Urban Renewal to allow construction of seven affordable units at 129 KInderkamack Road.
“In order for the borough to consider any changes to the zoning code, we would need those (nine) answers furnished to the borough,” said DiPaola. She said the borough needed time to meet with its professionals before the redeveloper comes before the council with its attorney and professionals.
The redeveloper contacted Borough Attorney John McCann via email late on Nov. 20 saying their professionals planned to appear at the Nov. 21 council meeting.
However, McCann emailed them early on Nov. 21 to say they could not appear before answering the nine questions regarding the 129 Kinderkamack Road property – questions he posed to them via email nearly two years before and that they had promised to answer but did not.
The zoning change request from Emerson Redevelopers Urban Renewal was discussed briefly at the Nov. 21 council meeting and tabled unanimously by council. No future date for discussion was provided. Their original request for a zoning change was submitted in December 2021
The council must consider and vote on any proposed zoning changes under the borough’s downtown redevelopment plan, not the Land Use Board.
Both the borough and redeveloper have a March 4, 2024 Superior Court date to begin a trial over a contested $500,000 payment that the redeveloper reneged on. The redeveloper alleged the borough did not meet its agreed-upon deadline to provide a site and design for a new ambulance building to the redeveloper by Dec. 31, 2019.
McCann said the borough alleges that the redeveloper entered the 2018 agreement in “bad faith” and knew the deadline for the borough to respond with a site design and site for a new ambulance building – and be reimbursed for the former ambulance property deeded to the redeveloper – could not be met by the one-year timeline agreed upon by a former administration.
The redeveloper wants to change the zoning at 129 Kinderkamack to construct a seven-unit affordable housing complex, which it claims was agreed to in the 2018 agreement to build the Emerson Station project.
However, the borough said no such agreement was made in that agreement. It notes the agreement calls for 29 affordable units, 22 onsite units and seven off-site units.
The current zoning at 129 Kinderkamack Road, which is a Central Business District (CBD-15) Zone, permits only commercial and mixed-use commercial or multifamily buildings, with commercial uses on the ground floor.
McCann and planner Caroline Reiter, of Statile & Associates, said then that the December 2021 request by the redeveloper was the first time they had heard of the applicant’s plans for affordable housing at 129 Kinderkamack Road.
A large fence draped with black privacy slats currently encircles the 129 Kinderkamack Road property, which lies across from a doughnut shop and dry cleaners and abuts the railroad tracks.
Although the redeveloper requested an upcoming council date to make a presentation on the 129 Kinderkamack Road property, McCann said the borough awaits a written response to their questions, which will be shared with borough professionals, before scheduling any redeveloper presentation.
The nine questions posed by Emerson to the redeveloper addressed: what was the site zoned for when purchased; what is the basis for the request; when did the redeveloper close on the 129 parcel; where else in town could offsite affordable units be built; when did the redeveloper know Emerson knew it intended to use 129 Kinderkamack for affordables; did redeveloper know that the parcel was not zoned for affordable housing; how many alternative sites were considered; and when did the redeveloper decide not to use Habitat for Humanity to construct off-site units.