Alternate casts tie-breaking vote against Van Cleef application
By:Eric Schwarz
A Planning Board alternate member credits a lack of roads to handle traffic as the reason for her tie-breaking vote against a 449-house complex.
Lynn Winters Mineo said she voted July 20 against the Country Classics application based on a 20-year agreement that several traffic improvements be in place before developer Van Cleef Family Limited Partnership could expand.
An attorney for the developer, William Savo, has said he will file an appeal. Mr. Savo did not return calls seeking comment.
Two traffic issues in particular prompted Ms. Winters Mineo to reject the application, she said.
A 1980 settlement agreement between Van Cleef and Hillsborough Township stipulated that an extension to Interstate 95 be built and the bridge over the Millstone River Road Bypass be widened, Ms. Winters Mineo said.
Neither improvement has been made.
Ms. Winters Mineo was allowed to vote on the application to break a 4-4 tie vote taken May 4.
Superior Court Judge Rosemarie Williams ruled June 23 that a new vote was needed and named Ms. Winters Mineo, the second alternate, as the voter. The first alternate, Ken Wells, was ruled not eligible because he did not sit with the board at one meeting and did not receive a copy of the minutes to review.
The development would more than double the number of homes in the Country Classics development in Belle Mead.
Ms. Winters Mineo said when the Millstone Bypass was completed, it included a refurbished bridge but not a wider one.
William Sutphen, attorney for the planning board, on Tuesday said he had not heard anything regarding an appeal by Van Cleef, but the firm has approximately 45 days in which to file an appeal.
He said the developer still has a motion in court that is yet to be decided, appealing a May 4 decision that denied the application.