Courts Ram Development Down the Throats of Englewood Cliffs Residents

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Englewood Cliffs NJ, a development on  Sylvan Avenue that was at the center of a lengthy and contentious legal battle over “affordable housing” in the borough, is moving forward yet again.

Englewood Cliffs had been in litigation with the developers of the 800 Sylvan Avenue property since 2015, when Normandy Real Estate Partners, the original developer behind the project, filed a builder’s remedy suit. That lawsuit went to trial in 2019 after hundreds of residents crowded a public meeting to demand that the borough fight in court rather than settle. The borough lost, and in April 2020, Superior Court Judge Christine Farrington stripped the Planning Board of its ability to review land use applications and development plans, including the project at the crux of the litigation.

In April, Fair Share Housing Center sued Englewood Cliffs to compel the borough to abide by the settlement agreement, asking a judge to declare that it had breached the agreement and violated the state Civil Rights Act by delaying the construction of affordable homes for decades.

Mayor Mario Kranjac has opposed residential development at the site for years, arguing that the property should be used for offices rather than housing, pointing out the obvious that housing would require costly upgrades to municipal services and infrastructure.

On Monday he blamed state Democrats chasing jobs out of New Jersey and stranding  residents with infrastructure costs .

“It’s a pity that thousands of people will no longer be employed at 800 Sylvan because the Democrats running the state of New Jersey directly or indirectly eliminated those jobs and the possibility of those jobs through a sham affordable housing initiative that primarily benefits politicians and developers at the expense of Englewood Cliffs’ taxpaying, hardworking residents, while those in need of jobs and affordable housing are an afterthought,” Kranjac said.