Van Cleef may apply again
By:Jack Baney
The Planning Board voted Thursday night to deny Van Cleef Limited Family Partnership’s application to build 449 houses on Amsterdam Road as part of its Country Classics development.
Under terms of the board’s decision, Van Cleef still has the right to reapply. At the meeting, several board members spoke of the possibility that Van Cleef could sue the board.
William Savo, attorney for Van Cleef, could not be reached for immediate comment Friday on his client’s plans.
Van Cleef won the right to build Country Classics through a 1980 court agreement, but the board said Van Cleef had failed to satisfy a condition of the agreement dealing with traffic mitigation.
"I think the applicant has worked hard — I hope he’ll re-consider some of these requests that we’re making," said Mr. Wysocki before casting the deciding vote.
Planning Board Chairman Ed Wysocki, Mayor Joseph Tricarico, and board members Peg Van Patton, Christian Jensen and Bob Mack voted to deny the application. Members Marian Fenwick-Freeman, Paul Drake and Robert Lawton voted not to deny it. Board member Sam Van Nest abstained from the vote.
Under to the 1980 court agreement, Van Cleef must provide a roadway from Route 206 in Belle Mead past the Millstone River Road and across the Millstone River, provide a Millstone bypass with "a new bridge crossing," or show the traffic from the entire development has been provided for or can be accommodated by existing roads.
Mr. Savo argued that the second two conditions are in place. The board said none of them are.
The board also denied the application on the grounds that Van Cleef would not extend the application for a new traffic study and because traffic is a "number one" priority in Hillsborough, the board said.
The decision to reject the application came after a vote for approval resulted in a tie.
Approval would have been contingent upon Van Cleef’s finishing a new traffic study to address whether the court agreement’s conditions had been met. If they had not, Van Cleef would have been responsible for meeting them.
Mr. Wysocki, Ms. Van Patton, Mr. Lawton and Mr. Drake had supported this resolution. Mayor Tricarico, Mr. Jensen, Mr. Mack and Ms. Fenwick-Freeman voted against it. Mr. Van Nest abstained.
The issue of whether one of the 1980 court agreement’s traffic conditions has been met should have been the first issue decided by the board, said Mr. Van Nest.
"I think we’ve led the developer down the path," said Mr. Van Nest.
Before either of the votes, the board asked Mr. Savo to extend the application until the completion of a new study of the development’s regional traffic impact.
Several board members have complained that a recent township-commissioned traffic study of the development is useless because it relies too heavily on information provided by an older Van Cleef study.
But Mr. Savo, who has maintained that Van Cleef has provided adequate mitigation of the development’s traffic impact, declined the board’s request.
"We’ve been at this for two-and-a-half years. We’ve granted many extensions," he said. "Regional traffic studies are of limited value. We will not grant an extension."
Mr. Jensen agreed with Mr. Savo about the value of such a study, saying that Hillsborough residents already know the development will have an unacceptable traffic impact.
"As local experts, we know the answers to these questions," he said. "It’s going to be a real mess, and I personally can’t contribute to that."