Joint Meeting of Borough Council, Board of Adjustment, Planning Board: Crystal Ridge – Possible Dropping Of Age Restriction

The meeting will be held Monday, October 26th at North Plainfield Community Center, 614 Greenbrook Road at 7:30pm.

The attorneys, for the property owners of the Crystal Ridge development, have approached the borough to eliminate the age restriction. The impact on the borough, with respect to education costs, should concern all North Plainfield residents. It is important to note that a similar age restricted development has been proposed for the ‘Villa Maria’ property, now referred to as Watchung Hills. What follows the Crystal Ridge ruling could set precedent with regard to Watchung Hills and have significant impact on North Plainfield’s municipal and education expenses.  The Crystal Ridge zoning change was intended to be on the agenda for tomorrow night’s joint meeting of Council, Board Of Adjustment, Planning Board. According to Jim McGarry’s letter (below), the zoning change was removed from the agenda despite his objections. Mr. McGarry was kind enough to allow us to post his letter and he urges all residents to attend Monday night’s meeting at Vermeule Community Center, 7:30pm.

Jim McGarry is the Republican Candidate for Borough Council. The posting of Jim’s letter is in the interest of the residents of North Plainfield and not meant to be partisan.

Jim’s Letter:

You will recall that the owners of the Crystal Ridge property have applied to the Board of Adjustment (BOA) to drop the age restrictions on their property.
 
In the first public hearing before the BOA, the attorney for Crystal Ridge stated on the record that he has previously spoken with Mayor Mike Giordano, who indicated that he would favor the application, as long as it included a number of low-income housing units in the development.  I paraphrase the attorney here, but believe a full transcription of the meeting will bear me out.
 
Aside from the legal question of whether the Mayor has tainted the application and our proceedings, I am concerned as to whether a decision in favor of the Crystal Ridge application would become a matter of binding legal precedent, perhaps in favor of the developer of the Villa Maria property?  If so, the impact of the resultant increase in the public school enrollment could be enormous, contrary to Borough Attorney Eric Bernstein’s comments a few months ago.
 
Accordingly, I requested that this matter be included for full discussion during the October 26 Joint Meeting of the Borough Council, Mayor, Board of Education, Planning Board and Board of Adjustment.
 
Today (Friday, October 23rd – ed.), it became obvious that this subject has been pulled from the October 26 agenda, at the last minute, despite my objections.
 
I believe the members of NPCCR and every other concerned resident of North Plainfield should be made aware of these proceedings, attend the meeting on Monday and let our public officials know how they feel about this kind of decision-making.
 
Thanks
 
Jim