COURT HOUSE — Developer William Juliano has to go back to the drawing board again.
Despite scaling back his plans for an apartment complex in Rio Grande from 336 to 288 units and being previously approved for 342 age-restricted units on the site, the Middle Township Zoning Board failed to approve his project last night.
At a Feb. 8 meeting, Juliano, and his company Rio Victorian Village LLC, lost a use variance vote 5 – 2 with only members David Ross and Greg Martin approving of his 336-unit project.
Last night with a scaled back plan, he fared better but not good enough to move forward. A 4 – 3 majority of board members approved the plan, but a use variance requires five affirmative votes.
Road improvement and traffic concerns seemed to be the deciding factors in the project’s failure.
Juliano was seeking a use variance for the 21.7-acre site of the former Rio Grande Concrete plant on Railroad Avenue and Route 47, where residential apartments are not permitted.
The site is split-zoned Restricted Industrial (RI) and Regional General Business (RGB). More than 90 percent of the property lies within the RI zone, in which the applicant, according to his professionals, would be permitted to run wholesale distribution facilities, a methadone clinic, a fast food restaurant, sell heavy equipment, or house a power substation. The applicant could also resurrect the concrete plant.
Tim Michel, the project’s planner, said the proposed use is a more favorable choice than many of the permitted uses.
“Being located in the Rio Grande center, this site is particularly suited for a residential apartment complex,” Michel said. “Residents of the apartments would be close enough to walk to local businesses.”
He said this idea was in line with the state’s Smart Growth program.
Zoning Chairman James McLaughlin noted that the state’s plan for Smart Growth was to discourage sprawl by forcing development into the centers.
“Not only commercial development, but also residential development,” Michel added.
The planner also remarked that project approval would correct the deplorable conditions on the site, which features unsafe crumbling buildings, a rusted silo and copious graffiti.
Juliano proposed six identical, three-story, residential buildings, which would house 288 apartments – 222 two-bedroom and 66 one-bedroom. The plans also include a 3,800 square foot clubhouse, a swimming pool and landscaping.
The applicant also agreed to help improve the municipal recreation facilities across from the complex if the project was approved.
The buildings would be just over 50 feet high, scaled down from four stories and 64 feet in previous applications, and would still require height variances.
The taller buildings brought negative comments at previous meetings from fire officials who said local fire companies did not have the equipment or training needed to fight fires in larger structures.
Last night, a representative from Middle Township Fire District No. 2 tried to dispel those fears.
“We have the necessary equipment and will train our firefighters once the building is erected,” said Commissioner Salvatore DeSimone. He noted that when other large buildings in the area were constructed, the firefighters visited and made a plan in case of a blaze.
“That’s how we do it,” he said.
Concerns were raised regarding the strain on government services the project would produce.
Juliano said the project would handle its own trash pickup, landscaping and snow removal. He said the complex would only need police service and hopefully not often.
“I won’t rent to those kind of people,” he said pledging to keep the “riff raff” out of the apartments.
Michel said the impact on the township’s public schools wouldn’t be significant either.
Using a complex population formula, Michel determined that the project’s 288 units would have approximately 552 residents and 63 would attend public schools. When there were 342 units, 74 children were projected.
He said there could be more school-aged children, but statistics show that some would attend private schools.
Michel said he’s used the formula several times before and named two instances when its projections were actually higher than the number of school-aged children that resulted.
Board member Art Cornell said he didn’t trust the calculations.
“There could be a kid in every apartment or even two,” he said.
“Or there could be no school children at all,” countered Jeffrey April, the applicant’s attorney.
Cornell and several members of the public spoke up regarding the potential traffic and safety issues that could result from the project.
As a member of the traffic advisory board, Cornell said he gets numerous complaints from residents regarding the problems at the intersection of Route 47 and Route 9. He said the potential increase of over 500 vehicles would certainly increase the problem.
Neighbors of the project, who live on Railroad Avenue, said the tractor-trailers making deliveries to the shopping center are bad enough and any additional traffic would make things unbearable.
They suggested that before any project was approved, Railroad Avenue, a county road, must be improved.
“We’ve been complaining about the safety of this road for a long time,” said Jennifer Siciliano, of Railroad Avenue. “Truck speed up and down the road all day.”
She said she spoke to Freeholder Daniel Beyel regarding the traffic problems there. “He said there was nothing he could do,” she said.
Board Engineer Vince Orlando said the county, like the township, is under budget constraints and can’t make all the road improvements it would like to.
He suggested that once large projects like this are approved, the money for road improvements usually follows.
Cornell and his colleague Dennis Anderson were the most vocal members opposed to the project.
Anderson called the proposal “poor planning” saying the builder should provide open space within the property site instead of refurbishing the municipal playground. He also thought there’d be a lot more than 550 people staying in the apartments.
McLaughlin asked if Juliano would consider reducing the size of the project.
“We can’t keep cutting units or we won’t be able to make our numbers,” the builder replied, noting his original plans called for over 400 condominiums and he was already approved for 342 units.
In the end, around 11:30 p.m., the board voted and Joyce Jewel joined Cornell and Anderson in opposition effectively killing the application.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
