South Orange Avenue is one of the major gateways into the Township of South Orange Village. As it enters our town from the east, it casts off its urban character and is transformed into a thoroughfare that is edged with open spaces, towering trees, front yards of single-family homes and scattered small-scale commercial uses. This transformation makes it possible to have a large artery run through the middle of our town without destroying the character of our historic community and neighborhoods.

However, one of the major players in the eastern part of South Orange, Seton Hall University, is proposing to build a new University Center that will have a detrimental effect on a large part of the open space along South Orange Avenue and the neighborhoods surrounding it. The new University Center will have a two-lane, 25 feet wide service road that will run roughly parallel to South Orange Avenue, a 100 feet wide truck turning circle and loading dock that will also handle trash.

The road and turning circle will pave over large parts the green space that fronts South Orange Avenue, and destroy old trees that are part of our community character. While the University proposes to replant some trees in the area, these trees will take another 30 years to even get anywhere close to the existing trees on the site. Seton Hall is asking for a waiver in order to run parts of the service road right next to South Orange Avenue in the space designated as setback by local zoning laws. If this waiver is granted, the area will take on the appearance of having a six-lane highway running through it. In addition, Seton Hall proposes to build three temporary metal buildings along its South Orange Avenue property line during construction. One of them is proposed to be three stories high. These buildings will remain on site through the construction period, which has not been disclosed yet but can be estimated to be at least one year long. We believe that the physical character the neighborhoods that surround the project and the township itself will be very negatively affected by this project.

Besides the aesthetic and visual downsides of the service road, it will also add to noise, pollution and ambient light in an area that is already stressed with these environmental issues. We believe that idling trucks and buses and trash collection will be a significant part of the daily operation of the facility. The project, which involves significant excavation, will displace large amounts of soil, and may have a long-term effect on water drainage in the surrounding neighborhoods that are downhill from it.

This project does not provide any potential benefit to the surrounding historic community of Montrose Park and yet impacts it negatively. The aesthetic, visual and environmental impact of the project will be a net negative for the parts of Montrose Park that are just north of the University. It will bring property values down in a real estate market that is just beginning to rebound.

An improvement for the University communty must not be a burden on the surrounding communities. This is the social contract that we enter when we become neighbors. Therefore, we the undersigned respectfully ask The Planning Board of the Township of South Orange Village to not approve Seton Hall’s proposal for a new University Center.