Take Back Lakewood- weekly update, busy week ahead
Zoning Board Meeting Monday April 3rd
There will be a Zoning Board meeting on Monday April 3rd at 7:00. Applications include 8 duplex lots on James St. (16 families and 32 cars), 4 duplex lots on Dewey (8 families and 16 cars) and 8 single family at White/Cross. Reminder—Spot zoning is illegal!!
Planning Board Meeting Tuesday April 4th
Lakewood Shopping Village (AKA BMG Mall)
There will be a planning board meeting on Tuesday April 4th at 6:00. The first item on the agenda is SP 2218 Lakewood Shopping Village (LSV) which will begin promptly at 6:00. On March 10th a new agreement was signed between Pine River Village and LSV in which LSV agreed not to have any entrances to the shopping center on Pine Street. The only openings to the parking lot will be on Ave of the States. On March 24th, revised plans were submitted by LSV to the planning board eliminating the Pine Street entrance and providing updated data regarding the shopping center.
There are many significant concerns that have not yet been addressed. The original application said that besides for the 187,020 Square Feet (SF) of shopping space, there will be a basement with another 187,000 SF of basement space. The applicant calculated 1 spot per 225 SF for a required 832 spaces and they are providing 898 spots. They are neglecting to calculate the parking for the basements. Even if the basements are just storage and even if they want to argue that it should be based on warehouse requirements (faulty logic) it would require 1 spot per 1,000 SF or 187 spots leaving them short 121 parking spots!! A subsequent plan had conflicting information regarding whether there will or will not be basements.
We obtained an email where a planning board member voiced many concerns with the application including the fact that no architectural designs have been provided. The traffic study has not been properly updated to reflect the change in regards to closing the Pine Street entrance. The traffic analysis uses a 1% growth rate which we know is not representative of the Lakewood community. There are concerns that 18 wheeler trucks will be entering and exiting the parking lot mingling with cars and creating an extremely dangerous situation. Additionally, the applicant made numerous changes to the plans and the planning board’s engineer did not have sufficient time to review the updated plans and provide comments. In a March 21 email, the Planning Board Administrator cautioned that without proper reviewed plans and with numerous lingering questions, perhaps the application should be pushed off. The Board Engineer responded that he is leaning toward pushing off the application. Astonishingly, the applicants attorney insisted that they will surge forward with the application forcing the board into the uncomfortable position of voting on an application with many unresolved issues.
Despite many lingering unknowns, the largest application that Lakewood has seen in years is heading toward a hearing. Although PRV residents are now not allowed to oppose it (bound by their faulty agreement), many other residents from the broad Pine St. area plan to attend the meeting and vocally oppose the shopping center.
Opposition within the Yeshiva community
Although BMG maintains that this project is to benefit the yeshiva and on behalf of the talmidei hayeshiva, there is a significant segment of the yeshiva community which opposes this plan on the grounds that they feel that such a project is contradictory to the values that the yeshiva stands for.
Township Committee meeting April 6th
There will be a Township Committee meeting on Thursday April 6th at 7:30. Months ago a CAFRA application was submitted for 222 apartments and 263 houses in industrial park. On finding out that the township still owns that land and was in the process of selling it to a private developer, Mayor Coles made the right decision and revoked the sales contract. Unfortunately, he now appears to be considering re-approving the sale. Legal notices were posted in the APP this past week indicating that the applicant is proceeding with his CAFRA applications. This indicates that Mayor Coles may make a costly mistake in an election year and allow 485 units to be built in industrial park scaring away more businesses. Luckily, there are other candidates that you can vote for instead.
Township Committee Candidates for Primaries
The deadline to submit a petition to run for township committee as a republican or democrat is April 3rd. This year, besides for the Republican Club picks (Delia and Berman) and the Democratic Club picks (Coles and Raitzik) there are several others who are running for the republican and democratic seats as well and they will be challenging the clubs candidates for their parties seats. The primaries are on June 6th and the 4 winners (2 democrats and 2 republicans) will go on to compete for the 2 open seats in the general election on November 7th. Stay tuned for more information after April 3rd.
Anyone in NJ can sign up for mail in ballots. It is a convenient way to vote from the comfort of your home in advance. Fill out the registration form at tinyurl.com/LKWDVote. These votes are counted and we encourage people to sign up for mail in ballots to increase easy public participation in the elections. Check off option A in box 10 to ensure that you are signed up for all elections this year and not just one.
If you are not yet registered to vote, you must register by 5/16/17 to participate in the June 6th primaries. Both Democrats and Unaffiliated may vote in the democratic primary and both Republicans and Unaffiliated may vote in the Republican Primary. Go to tinyurl.com/LKWDRegister to register to vote. After attempting to convince our elected officials including Mayor Coles to act in the interests of the taxpayers and residents, they seem to have chosen a path that ignores the needs of the residents of Lakewood. After 15 years with the same committeeman, the time has come to vote in new committeemen who are committed to acting as representatives for all of Lakewood. The time is ripe and Lakewood needs to band together to vote in new committeemen and finally bring positive change.
Golf Club CAFRA application dealt a blow by NJ DEP
A letter written by Colleen Keller, Assistant Director of the NJ DEP Division of Land use regulation dealt a heavy blow to the application seeking to build over 1,800 houses on the site of Eagle Ridge Golf Club. The letter states that “the project is not designed in accordance” with state environmental regulations. It goes on to list 10 significant problems that were found with the application. A public hearing will be scheduled to hear the concerns of the public.
Zoning Board Meeting Monday April 3rd
There will be a Zoning Board meeting on Monday April 3rd at 7:00. Applications include 8 duplex lots on James St. (16 families and 32 cars), 4 duplex lots on Dewey (8 families and 16 cars) and 8 single family at White/Cross. Reminder—Spot zoning is illegal!!
Planning Board Meeting Tuesday April 4th
Lakewood Shopping Village (AKA BMG Mall)
There will be a planning board meeting on Tuesday April 4th at 6:00. The first item on the agenda is SP 2218 Lakewood Shopping Village (LSV) which will begin promptly at 6:00. On March 10th a new agreement was signed between Pine River Village and LSV in which LSV agreed not to have any entrances to the shopping center on Pine Street. The only openings to the parking lot will be on Ave of the States. On March 24th, revised plans were submitted by LSV to the planning board eliminating the Pine Street entrance and providing updated data regarding the shopping center.
There are many significant concerns that have not yet been addressed. The original application said that besides for the 187,020 Square Feet (SF) of shopping space, there will be a basement with another 187,000 SF of basement space. The applicant calculated 1 spot per 225 SF for a required 832 spaces and they are providing 898 spots. They are neglecting to calculate the parking for the basements. Even if the basements are just storage and even if they want to argue that it should be based on warehouse requirements (faulty logic) it would require 1 spot per 1,000 SF or 187 spots leaving them short 121 parking spots!! A subsequent plan had conflicting information regarding whether there will or will not be basements.
We obtained an email where a planning board member voiced many concerns with the application including the fact that no architectural designs have been provided. The traffic study has not been properly updated to reflect the change in regards to closing the Pine Street entrance. The traffic analysis uses a 1% growth rate which we know is not representative of the Lakewood community. There are concerns that 18 wheeler trucks will be entering and exiting the parking lot mingling with cars and creating an extremely dangerous situation. Additionally, the applicant made numerous changes to the plans and the planning board’s engineer did not have sufficient time to review the updated plans and provide comments. In a March 21 email, the Planning Board Administrator cautioned that without proper reviewed plans and with numerous lingering questions, perhaps the application should be pushed off. The Board Engineer responded that he is leaning toward pushing off the application. Astonishingly, the applicants attorney insisted that they will surge forward with the application forcing the board into the uncomfortable position of voting on an application with many unresolved issues.
Despite many lingering unknowns, the largest application that Lakewood has seen in years is heading toward a hearing. Although PRV residents are now not allowed to oppose it (bound by their faulty agreement), many other residents from the broad Pine St. area plan to attend the meeting and vocally oppose the shopping center.
Opposition within the Yeshiva community
Although BMG maintains that this project is to benefit the yeshiva and on behalf of the talmidei hayeshiva, there is a significant segment of the yeshiva community which opposes this plan on the grounds that they feel that such a project is contradictory to the values that the yeshiva stands for.
Township Committee meeting April 6th
There will be a Township Committee meeting on Thursday April 6th at 7:30. Months ago a CAFRA application was submitted for 222 apartments and 263 houses in industrial park. On finding out that the township still owns that land and was in the process of selling it to a private developer, Mayor Coles made the right decision and revoked the sales contract. Unfortunately, he now appears to be considering re-approving the sale. Legal notices were posted in the APP this past week indicating that the applicant is proceeding with his CAFRA applications. This indicates that Mayor Coles may make a costly mistake in an election year and allow 485 units to be built in industrial park scaring away more businesses. Luckily, there are other candidates that you can vote for instead.
Township Committee Candidates for Primaries
The deadline to submit a petition to run for township committee as a republican or democrat is April 3rd. This year, besides for the Republican Club picks (Delia and Berman) and the Democratic Club picks (Coles and Raitzik) there are several others who are running for the republican and democratic seats as well and they will be challenging the clubs candidates for their parties seats. The primaries are on June 6th and the 4 winners (2 democrats and 2 republicans) will go on to compete for the 2 open seats in the general election on November 7th. Stay tuned for more information after April 3rd.
Anyone in NJ can sign up for mail in ballots. It is a convenient way to vote from the comfort of your home in advance. Fill out the registration form at tinyurl.com/LKWDVote. These votes are counted and we encourage people to sign up for mail in ballots to increase easy public participation in the elections. Check off option A in box 10 to ensure that you are signed up for all elections this year and not just one.
If you are not yet registered to vote, you must register by 5/16/17 to participate in the June 6th primaries. Both Democrats and Unaffiliated may vote in the democratic primary and both Republicans and Unaffiliated may vote in the Republican Primary. Go to tinyurl.com/LKWDRegister to register to vote. After attempting to convince our elected officials including Mayor Coles to act in the interests of the taxpayers and residents, they seem to have chosen a path that ignores the needs of the residents of Lakewood. After 15 years with the same committeeman, the time has come to vote in new committeemen who are committed to acting as representatives for all of Lakewood. The time is ripe and Lakewood needs to band together to vote in new committeemen and finally bring positive change.
Golf Club CAFRA application dealt a blow by NJ DEP
A letter written by Colleen Keller, Assistant Director of the NJ DEP Division of Land use regulation dealt a heavy blow to the application seeking to build over 1,800 houses on the site of Eagle Ridge Golf Club. The letter states that “the project is not designed in accordance” with state environmental regulations. It goes on to list 10 significant problems that were found with the application. A public hearing will be scheduled to hear the concerns of the public.