Following exposure on FAA News of a major leak in the system, Lakewood Township's Planning Board last night clarified a specific stipulation that a developer can't receive any Certificate of Occupancies or even a Temporary Certificate of Occupancies until...
The parcel of land along Route 9 northbound between Shefa Chaim Street and Halsey Street is currently vacant.
There is an existing approval for a full sized duplex on this parcel, with frontage along Route 9.
In November 2021, the developers presented to Lakewood Township's Planning Board a new proposal to construct a Hatzolah garage on the portion of the parcel facing Halsey Street and an undersized duplex on the remainder of the parcel facing Shefa Chaim Street. The applicant's professionals testified to the Board that the idea was that Hatzolah asked the developers to utilize a portion of this parcel for an ambulance garage and the developer is interested in accommodating them, however he doesn't want to lose a duplex so he is compromising by presenting a plan for an undersized duplex.
Board members were enthusiastic about the proposal which would bring to the outskirts of the growing Oak and Vine neighborhood, a 2-story, 1,260 sq foot ambulance garage and associated rooms on the first floor, and several offices, a conference room, and rooms for the night watch members on the second floor.
The site plan proposes removal of the existing "jersey barriers" and warning signs which keep Halsey Street inaccessible from Route 9. The garage will be accessed by a driveway onto Halsey Street, and sidewalk will be installed along the property frontage.
However, Board members were concerned that the developer would only construct the undersized duplex, then drop the plan to construct the Hatzolah garage, and then seek to sneak in an additional undersized duplex on the remainder of the lot.
To emphasize that they were only approving an undersized duplex in order to permit construction of the Hatzolah garage and not to pave the way for the developer to eventually sneak in an additional undersized duplex, the Board conditioned their approval on that the developer needed to construct the Hatzolah garage prior to constructing the duplex.
The wording of the Resolution of Approval states:
D. As a condition of approval, the subdivision will not be considered perfected until the
whole site is developed or at least until construction starts on the Hatzolah building.
E. As a condition of approval, no construction shall commence on the subdivided parcel
until such time as the Hatzolah site construction is underway.
The developer returned to the Planning Board last night to seek an amendment to the wording of the Resolution to clarify that the subdivision can already be perfected and that construction on the duplex can already begin, however, no Certificate of Occupancies will be granted for the duplex until work already commences on the Hatzolah Building.
The Board approved the requested amendment to the Resolution, however, noting that, as the news was first broken here on FAA News, a developer recently convinced the Engineering to grant him Temporary Certificate of Occupancies despite a specific condition of a Planning Board approval that no Certificate of Occupancies could be granted on the homes before the shul is constructed, the Board clarified that their amended approval on the Hatzolah application will restrict the developer from obtaining Certificate of Occupancies or even Temporary Certificate of Occupancies on the duplex units prior to work commencing on the Hatzolah Building.
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2 comments:
Nice. A groyse shkoiach to the educated planning board member! It's about time we stopped this shtick.
FAA offers the best land use course in town. Keep up the great work!
Can we NAME the educated planning board member?
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