the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Glen Rock NJ, A Superior Court judge has struck down a variance granted to an age-restricted apartment project planned for a Prospect Street residential zone in Glen Rock,In 2017, the Glen Rock Zoning Board of Adjustment approved the variance permitting construction of the 52-unit rental complex in a single-family residential zone adjacent to a Ridgewood Water facility. The Glen Park Village project was first pitched as senior housing in 2013, but just months before the zoning board’s 2017 decision, the Glen Rock Borough Council twice rejected ordinances against rezoning the 2-acre property to permit high-density housing. Their consideration came at the request of Glen Park. A neighbor-driven petition was given to the council in advance of their vote. The council’s action prompted the developer to pursue a use variance with the zoning board.
The Prospect Street Neighbors Association LLC, a 22-member group, filed a complaint in October 2017 challenging the decision. During zoning board hearings, residents had shared concerns over property values, traffic and setting a precedent for more high-density housing.
On Monday, Judge Gregg Padovano ordered the board’s June 2017 decision granting a use and other variances for the Glen Park Village LLC complex overturned.Approval of the variances was “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable,” Padovano wrote, and the board’s resolution memorializing its decision lacks key details.The judge focused primarily on the failure to mention the Ridgewood Water property and its access roadway.
The judge wrote, “Glen Park failed to provide any testimonial evidence its proposed use was necessary to fulfill an identified need in the community, let alone that no other location was available for the proposed use and the subject property was well-suited” The fact that seven of the 52 units would be affordable housing does not render the whole complex “inherently beneficial,” by zoning standards, he wrote.The judge noted that the board failed to identify the final proposed height of the buildings and the granting of a density variance in its resolution.
Buzzards are circling our hard won family friendly Middle class highly taxed neighborhoods