Lambertville planners say Academy Hill Inc. needs to do a lot more work on its application for a development on the former Lambertville High School property.
By: Carl Reader
LAMBERTVILLE The Planning Board again has deemed incomplete an application by Academy Hill Inc. for 46 new houses on the property where the former Lambertville High School sits in ruins.
Academy once again took the-dog-ate-my-homework approach to fulfilling the various application requirements.
"My suggestion to the applicant is to stop fighting us," board Chairman Timothy Korzun said May 1. "We have been asking for the information, and we are not getting it."
The major reasons the application was deemed incomplete were Academy’s failure to prove to the board it could get water to the site. It also failed to detail in the drawings the berms and drainage and it could not describe where the utilities would be located.
Academy put in a similar, although more comprehensive, performance at failing to fulfill the board’s requirements at its first hearing on completeness March 1. The board continued the application to the May 1 meeting after that first hearing with the condition that all needed materials be submitted to City Engineer Bob Clerico’s office by April 9.
They were not.
A letter from United Water read at the March 1 meeting said it did not have the capacity to get water to the Academy site. Academy, at the May 1 meeting, put forth a sketchy plan to provide water from an adjacent West Amwell property through the use of wells and a pump station. Applicant Merrick Wilson of Yardley, Pa., disputed the board’s contention it needed a letter from United Water detailing if and how water would get to the site.
"Orleans never did get a letter saying it could get water to its site," Mr. Wilson testified, referring to a proposed Lamberts Hill development.
"I don’t know if you’re right on that," Mayor Dave Del Vecchio said.
Orleans, proposing 129 homes on Lambert’s Hill, put up a water tank and 12-inch pipe on its site to satisfy the water requirements, according to the board. Mr. Clerico added the board would need a geologist’s report if Academy proposed using water from West Amwell to supply the proposed development in Lambertville.
"We are missing the storm drainage profiles," Mr. Clerico said, moving on to another topic Academy did not address.
Academy engineer Michael Semeraro contended drawings submitted at the meeting that night showed the profiles, but City Planner Brian Slaugh disagreed, reminding the applicant the board was receiving the drawings at the last minute.
"We have no idea if they’re meeting the criteria or not," Mr. Slaugh said.
Nielsen V. Lewis, attorney for Academy, contended his client was responding to requests he had just received from the board, but Mr. Korzun reminded Mr. Lewis that Academy had received the requests at the March 1 meeting. The board, Mr. Korzun said, was receiving the Academy submission at the last moment, 60 days after the request.
"You’ve had plenty of time to deal with this," Mr. Korzun said.
Mr. Clerico also pointed out Academy had not submitted the soil analysis for the proposed development. He said the applicant wasn’t asking for a waiver, and the board didn’t have the information on the soil. Mr. Semeraro said he had faxed the information to Van Cleef Engineering, the city’s firm, that day. He said the fill would be from off-site, and on-site there was shaly salt loam that was adequate to receive fill.
"We believe we addressed that issue," Mr. Semeraro said.
On another issue, that of the easements for the utilities, Mr. Clerico pointed out Academy’s plan was "silent on what the easement would be." A number of easements were not shown at all, he added. Mr. Semeraro said Academy was looking to the board to tell it what it needed.
Aside from the three major issues of water, soil and utility easements, Mr. Korzun pointed out other Academy requests for waivers that had not been met. He said the stakes had not been set to show where the center of the roads on the proposed development would be, and he said there had been no soil conservation filing.
The board did grant temporary waivers for the setting of stakes and for a letter from the assessor detailing the tax implications of the proposed development.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Korzun said the board might not have jurisdiction over the project since it was unclear if Academy had the required 20 acres to go ahead with it. He concluded the board would have to look into that issue further.
When the needed information on the issues is forwarded to the board from Academy, the board will put Academy on the schedule at a future meeting, Mr. Korzun said.
"It’s entirely up to you," he said.