SPOTSWOOD – With a potential mixed-use development project taking place at their town’s border with East Brunswick, Spotswood officials and residents have voiced their concerns about a redevelopment plan in the neighboring municipality.
HD Summerhill LLC is proposing to build three four-story residential buildings, a clubhouse, a CVS pharmacy, a bank, parking, lighting and landscaping.
The plan includes 120 housing units, according to East Brunswick Zoning Officer/Planner Debra Rainwater.
During a May 7 council meeting, Spotswood residents voiced their concerns about issues including traffic and the effect of the development on the value of their properties.
The property being targeted for development is at 377 Summerhill Road, East Brunswick. The closest intersection is Summerhill and Old Stage roads, according to the company’s letter of intent.
“When you see the traffic on Old Stage Road, the way it backs up … anyone who has a traffic report which states this (project) is not going to have a detrimental impact, I don’t think it’s worth the paper it’s going to be written on,” Councilman Curt Stollen said.
At present, there is one office building, parking and landscaping on the property, according to the company’s application. The 10.3-acre property is in East Brunswick’s Town Green Zone.
“I also have a concern about the impact on what residential properties will lose because of this. Are residents going to be impacted [and] are the values of their homes going to go down because of East Brunswick’s moves?” Councilman Ted Ricci said.
On May 17, HD Summerhill LLC is expected to present its plan to the East Brunswick Zoning Board of Adjustment. The application seeks variances, bulk variances and waivers, according to Rainwater. No decision is expected that evening; the applicant will present professionals who will describe what is planned, she said.
Council President Margaret Drozd said the attorney and engineer who represent the Spotswood Planning Board will attend the East Brunswick meeting to learn more details about the plan.
“I know this will negatively impact that intersection and … there is a lot of flooding when there is a lot of rain. I think ShopRite has alleviated some of the (problems) in their parking lot, but I know that in the past … they had cars flooded out that were parked in that parking lot. So I can only imagine what they are going to do with the rest of this land,” Drozd said.
The applicant is seeking a “D” variance to exceed the height limitation in the zone; three stories are the maximum, and four-story residential buildings are proposed.
In a statement, East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen said he has concerns with the proposal. His concerns include the density and traffic issues he does not believe were adequately addressed by the applicant. He said the issues are a matter of public safety.
“I do not believe height restrictions should be lifted for this application. The height restrictions allow the area to retain the character of the community we have created in this section of the township. Four-story buildings do not belong in the heart of our residential neighborhoods,” Cohen said.
The applicant is seeking a bulk variance for off-street parking, since 50 spaces are required but 289 are proposed. According to the Township Zoning Ordinance that was adopted in 1991, no off street parking lot can contain more than 50 spaces, according to Rainwater.
Other variances and waivers include a landscape buffer, one tree for every five parking spaces with 58 trees required and 40 trees proposed; building density and other issues.
The property is included in East Brunswick’s Affordable Housing Compliance Plan as a planned unit development and includes affordable housing, according to the applicant.
“While I am sympathetic to the needs of residents and the state in regard to the need for affordable housing and the role of (affordable housing) litigation, I have been on record as opposing (affordable housing) driving residential development in communities,” Cohen said. “In many instances, this leads to poor decisions and an undue burden on municipalities. The developers seem to have been the unintended beneficiaries of (affordable housing) litigation. Such is the case with this application for four-story residential buildings.”
Spotswood Mayor Edward Seely said that when he was at the New Jersey Conference of Mayors in early May, he spoke with Cohen, who invited him to review the proposed development plan in more detail.
“[The plan] does mention 20 percent affordable housing. That used to be a scary term. … The only good thing I will say about affordable housing is [for] most of our kids today, that is what they fit into, affordable housing, because they cannot go out and buy a home,” Seely said.
“I still want a little better explanation, because our concerns are definitely … traffic. I have sat (at the intersection) for 10 to 15 minutes sometimes just waiting to get across the light,” he said.
Resident Cheryl Bass said the 120 new housing units would overtax other facilities in the area.
“We cannot absorb the traffic, we cannot absorb the people coming into this area,” Bass said. “The buildings that are there and the shopping area is for the current population, which has overexpanded currently. So we cannot absorb any more people.”
Board of Education President Dulce Branco-Rivera said she lives a block away from the Summerhill Road and Old Stage Road area. Her neighbors were notified about the plan two weeks ago.
“I am really concerned, moreso about the residential buildings as opposed to the businesses themselves. The 120 units, in my head, says 250 cars,” she said. “This is going to seriously impact my property value … The 250 cars on that street is going to completely gridlock the corner. It’s already a mess.”
East Brunswick resident Cathy Decker said she learned about the plan through a Facebook post. She and her husband, David, have created a “Save Frost” campaign to bring awareness of the project to the community and its potential impact on the Robert Frost Elementary School.
“In addition to more cars, 120 apartment units will bring more children, possibly hundreds, who will be living and playing at a dangerous intersection. And while (East Brunswick) reports that enrollment is down, when it comes time for these children to go to school, they can’t expect one school to shoulder the entire burden of so many new students,” Decker said.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
