JACKSON – Toward the conclusion of a recent four-hour meeting of the Township Zoning Board of Adjustment, a vote was taken denying a project of nearly 50 homes in a section of the community.
The application voted down by five members of that board concerned a density variance associated with property at 443 Leesville Road which exists between Burke and Diamond roads.
The application had been submitted by Lakewood based firm Bellevue Estates, LLC and it represented the first phase of their proposal to construct 48 homes on lots that were mostly less than a half acre of property and where 10 homes on 3-acre lots are currently permitted to be built.
Zoning Board members Lynne Bradley, Jeanine Fritch, Steve Costanzo, Samara O’Neill and James Hurley voted to deny the application while John Spalthoff voted against denying it.
Several board members expressed that they were not comfortable voting on an application without having specific information about the proposed homes. That information was not required as of the August 3 meeting due to the way in which the applicant was originally seeking only the density variance.
Were the density variance approved, the applicant would have come back before the Board later, seeking subdivision approval with a more detailed plan, according to testimony.
The denial is expected to have Mordechai Eichorn, the managing member of Bellevue Estates, LLC to appear before the Jackson Planning Board to present an application to construct four private schools on the same 31-acre Leesville Road property site. Schools are a permitted use on that property.
Eichorn said it was not his idea to build 48 homes at 443 Leesville Road adding he was the developer of three other private schools on Leesville Road that have received Planning Board approval. He noted that during public hearings before the Planning Board residents approached him to reconsider his plan to construct the four private schools.
He explained his plan for the private schools at 443 Leesville Road was “fully compliant, but I asked my professionals to come up with a residential plan.”
Eichorn admitted he was attempting to increase the number of homes on the 31-acre tract and said the home development proposal replacing schools “was a compromise on my part. I would make a lot more money building four schools on 5-acre to 7-acre lots.”
Eichorn predicted that within the next five to seven years, Jackson might see requests for between 60 to 70 new private schools.
During their discussion about Bellevue Estates’ request for the density variance, some Board members said they believed a vote to approve the density variance would amount to rezoning the property, which falls under the purview of the Jackson Council.
Bellevue Estates Engineer William Stevens, Traffic Engineer John Rea and Planner Andrew Janiw each expressed during a prior meeting, that while Eichorn was seeking to construct more homes than what is permitted on the site, the proposal was not out of line in an area of the township that features residential uses.
Stevens previously stated that the required lot size is 130,000 square feet adding that some of the lots in the proposed development would be 17,000 square feet which is less than a half an acre.
The proposed homes would not have been serviced by public water and public sewer and much of the meeting was devoted to discussing how waste from the 48 homes could be treated.
Residents who live near the site who spoke during the public comment period expressed concerns about how septic systems would affect their wells.
Rea presented a traffic overview on the number of vehicles at the location comparing residential use of the property to the impact of four private schools which would house around 2,800 students and operate year-round.
Students would be transported by buses and dropped off and picked up by their parents/guardians and according to Rea, morning hours at the school would add up to approximately 1,130 total trips on Leesville Road while the 48 homes would generate 34 total trips.
During the afternoon peak hour, the schools would generate around 540 total trips on that road and the 48 homes proposal would come to around 45 total trips.
Rea added the morning peak hour would probably coincide with other commuters traveling on Leesville Road but the afternoon peak hour would likely not coincide with as many commuters traveling on that road.
Janiw explained during his testimony that a residential use is permitted at 443 Leesville Road and the type of use that was being proposed by Bellevue Estates, with 48 homes proposed where 10 homes are permitted, despite added density, was permitted.
“We believe we are creating a better zoning alternative,” Janiw said. He called the impact on the neighborhood as “substantially less with homes than with schools.”
Most residents who spoke during the public comment period favored having homes over schools at the location.
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