file photo saddle river
JANUARY 17, 2016 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2016, 1:21 AM
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
HO-HO-KUS — The fate of a developer’s proposal to nestle dozens of town houses in a neighborhood of single-family homes may rely on the state’s new process of getting communities to meet affordable-housing obligations.
The plan, put forward by the Upper Saddle River-based Chamberlain Developers, is to build 45 town homes on a 3.66-acre corner lot off West Saddle River Road and Hollywood Avenue. Some of those units would be designated to help the borough meet its court-mandated obligation to promote housing for low- and moderate-income residents.
But opponents say such dense housing would be wholly out of character in an area dominated by sizable single-family homes.
“For almost 100 years, there’s been single-family development on the applicant’s property,” said Ho-Ho-Kus attorney Robert Inglima, representing four neighboring families opposed to the proposal. “So to take that property and transform it into a site for any number of multifamilyhousing units would be a significant departure from the prior zoning pattern … this is an established neighborhood we’re talking about.”
But land is gold in North Jersey, and as more residents — especially young professionals and empty-nesters — seek smaller units closer to mass transit, development firms are reacting, said Bergen Realtor Robert Abbott.
https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/town-government/town-house-plan-roils-ho-ho-kus-1.1493801
