TONIGHT is the final zoning board meeting!!! 7:30 PM at 195 Changebridge Rd Montville, NJ! Let your voice be heard at the seventh and FINAL meeting regarding the proposed 266 unit development on 29 acres of undisturbed wetlands and woodlands!
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As resident Holly Cox shared on our Montville Residents for Responsible Growth Facebook group earlier, "This is our LAST CHANCE to speak out against a 266-unit, multi-family, 55+ active adult gated RENTAL community, off Main Road (by Valhalla Road), which will affect 29 acres of our beautiful forest & have MANY NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES for all of us:
- will likely eventually RAISE OUR TAXES as homeowners (apparently the town can only collect 100k in taxes til the building is over 90% full, so as long as they leave a few units unfinished, we aren’t even getting the tax dollars the developer is promising)
-the developer can claim hardship & change the 55 & over age restriction, & then, people with children can move in & put extra stress on our overburdened school system
- strain on our already poor electrical grid, first responders, & water supply (remember our drought restrictions from many previous summers?)
- 24/7 light pollution
- more traffic & accidents on Main Road near Rt 287 (where the entrance & exit to this 266-unit development will be onto a two lane winding country road)
- 5 story buildings towering over the tree line in a residential area
- increased noise from Rt 287 after the tree buffers are cut down
-likely increased flooding as a result of building on steep slopes & near wetlands, &
-destruction of historic homes, etc.
Since this site is zoned for single family homes (not a multi-family development), the developer is asking for a “D” VARIANCE & needs to prove one of the 3 “positive criteria”:
1. it is an “inherently beneficial use”,
2. undue hardship or economic inutility, OR
3. the use is “peculiarly fitted to the particular location”,
AND they must also prove both of the “negative criteria”:
1. the use won’t be substantially detrimental to the public good, AND
2. it won’t substantially impair the intent & purpose of the zone plan.
Given this criteria, this project should have been dismissed outright, as the developer can not meet any of these requirements (as developed through case law & legislation). However, the developer is arguing otherwise, so please join us & read some already prepared testimony to try to stop this."
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The FINAL Zoning Board Meeting regarding Diversified Properties LLC's 266-unit rental development, inappropriately proposed to be built on 29 acres of undisturbed wetlands and woodlands, will be held TONIGHT - Tuesday, June 20th at 7:30PM.
The roles are finally reversed at this meeting, as it is solely intended for residents to share "public comment" and the developer's team will only be able to respond to the comments we make in our testimonies. Please come out to express your opposition to Diversified Properties LLC's proposal to destroy 29 acres of woodlands and wetlands to erect this development that would solely lead out onto Main Road/Route 202. This meeting will finally give the public the opportunity to share "public comment," which has been anticipated for 6 meetings in the making, spanning many months of waiting for the developer's team to conclude their "expert testimonies."
We do not need another mini college campus of rentals in our town, especially if it's inappropriately being built on beautiful, undisturbed woodlands and wetlands that should be protected as Open Space. Your attendance is crucial! Please put your foot down and join us in this last stretch of this fight on June 20th.
Please feel free to share this flyer and encourage attendance!