CRANFORD RESIDENTS OBJECT TO WF'S SUNNYSIDE DEVELOPMENT
By LAUREN S.
BARR
Specially
Written for The Westfield Leader
May
9, 2013
WESTFIELD
– Approximately three dozen residents came out to Tuesday night’s
Westfield Town Council meeting to object to the rezoning of 206
Springfield Avenue, and several other parcels of land to allow for
future development of affordable housing.
Public
hearing was held before final approval on ordinances effecting Springfield
Avenue, along with Central Avenue, New Street, South Elmer Street,
and North Avenue. A final vote on an ordinance that would affect zoning
on South Avenue was tabled due to possible pending development and
environmental issues.
Sunnyside
Senior Housing, LLC, owned by Ray Rodgers, will construct 24 units,
four of which will be set aside as affordable housing. According to
Councilman Jim Foerst, despite the name of the company, the new units
will not be limited to senior citizens.
In
January 2009, Sunnyside filed a lawsuit against the Town of Westfield and
the planning board alleging that Sunnyside’s attempts to develop the property
was “rebuffed” by the defendants. The suit was considered a “builder’s
remedy” lawsuit, as the town did not have an approved fairhousing plan
under regulations set forth by the Council On Affordable Housing
(COAH).
The
majority of the residents who spoke out against the rezoning and pending
development on Springfield Avenue were residents of Cranford, whose
homes border the property. Many of the residents cited concerns about
water run-off, traffic implications and changing the look of their neighborhood.
Several of the residents also said the previous owners, who sold the
property in 2004, would not have sold the property to Mr. Rodgers if
they had known his intent.
Councilman
Foerst said, “We wanted to be good neighbors” stating that under the
settlement agreement, the developer was limited to 24 units, as
opposed to the 60 they had asked for. He also said they are requiring the
developer to have all water drainage on the property and to orient the development
toward Westfield and away from
Cranford. Councilman Foerst told the residents that the developer “used
COAH as a sword to get the town to allow greater density than what
would have ordinarily been allowed.”
“We
were sued, we didn’t want to change the zoning,” Councilman Sam Della
Fera told the residents.
Cranford
resident Gary Miller, whose home backs up to the property, said that
the new development would cause “sunset to be an hour earlier.” He
said that due to the property being situated on a hill, with his home
at the bottom, the buildings will “look like six-story buildings to me.”
Cranford
resident Steven Conti, who bought his house two months ago, said his
back yard would be destroyed by this development.
Roxanne
Rand, also of Cranford, said that the ratables in the Nomahegan Court
neighborhood are going to go down and “this developer just gets to
walk.”
Westfield
residents Ben and Laura Gomez, who live across the street from the
property, said they feel the property should remain a single-family home,
and that they heard the condos that will be built will be sold for
between $700,000 and $800,000.
Residents
of South Elmer Street and a property owner on Central Avenue also
inquired about the zoning changes, and potential development. According
to Mr. Foerst, development would be limited to residential only.
While
the ordinances were approved by the council, they will not go into
effect until the town has approval from the court. Following court approval,
the developer will have to appear before the Westfield Planning Board
for final approval of the construction plan before anything can be built.
Property
owners who are affected by these new ordinances need to file a
written objection, a form which they can obtain from the town, and will
have the chance to be heard before state Superior Court Judge Frederic
Kessler on Monday, June 10, at 9 a.m. at the Union County courthouse.
In
other business . . (continued at goleader.com, May 9, pages 1 & 12)