Land’s zoning would
go from mixed use to entirely residential
By elaine van develde
Staff Writer
The Laurino family has a farm. And on that farm a developer seeks to build luxury townhomes.
There may end up being a small place to sell corn if and when the Laurino tract is rezoned, but the primary crop, if all goes according to Tinton Fall’s proposed plan, will be large condos — as many as 150 of them.
Calling it a reflection of the borough’s best interests, officials are taking steps to rezone the 59.7-acre farm on Sycamore and Hance avenues, which now houses only a produce stand.
The Borough Council made the move to make the split-zoned tract all residential after mulling over a developer’s ideas for the land and fielding residents’ concerns. Currently, about 36.5 of the total acreage is zoned IOP (industrial/office/professional).
The residential component of the zoning now allows for two homes per acre on the tract.
The zone change, if implemented, would allow for about 2.5 townhomes per acre, or a maximum of 150, Borough Administrator Anthony Muscillo said.
"Nothing is written in stone yet, though," he noted.
Muscillo explained that the process is a long, precise one. Municipal land use law dictates the following procedure:
A letter from Borough Law Director Edward McKenna will go to the Planning Board with council’s ideas for rezoning.
Those ideas will be reviewed by the Planning Board and will come back to council with recommendations incorporated in either actual ordinance form or a report.
The council will then review the Planning Board’s recommendations and decide whether or not to introduce an ordinance for the zone change.
Once the ordinance is introduced, it goes back to the Planning Board for a review to make sure its recommendations were not changed and, if they were, to obtain an explanation why.
Finally, a public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for after the 35-day Planning Board review period.
The Planning Board has the option of waiving the review period, but usually does not, Muscillo said.
If it passes public and council scrutiny, the ordinance can be adopted and the zone change will take effect. If not, it’s back to split-zoned square one.
So far, council’s recommendations don’t jibe completely with the wishes of the proposed developer of the Laurino property — Sterling Properties of Livingston. Sterling has slightly different density and age-limit designs on the parcel it has a contract to buy.
The developer would like to see a density of 180 two-story, two-, three- and four-bedroom luxury units on the tract, which, Muscillo said, "the council thinks is just too dense."
Dubbed Sterling Farms at Tinton Falls, the conceptual development would include about nine acres of open space, a small farm stand to mimic the long-standing Laurino market, a clubhouse, pool and some peripheral walking and bike paths. The price for the property, providing the conceptual development becomes a reality, is a purported $14 million.
Still, Muscillo added, judging by the one public meeting held on the issue last month, council members and the public seem to agree that changing the zoning to all residential is the more popular, beneficial route to take.
There were some residents, though, who thought rezoning was not the wiser option. At the public forum on the subject in September, those residents expressed that rather than hindering traffic and density problems, rezoning could instead end up clogging the area with more traffic.
If developed with the current zoning, those residents said, there could be less-dense housing with, maybe, a warehouse or small office complex, instead.
Still, the Laurino family has wanted to sell the property for some time now. The two contracts to buy that have been on the table in the past couple of years have required a zone change to induce a maximum profit for all involved, Muscillo said.
About two years ago, rezoning was attempted and failed miserably when residents came out in force against it. That rezoning would have allowed more building on the industrial zoned part of the tract, making way for a 400,000-square-foot office complex and a predicted extra 600 cars at morning peak hours alone.
This development, its traffic consultant says, would bring in about 100 extra cars at peak hours. Residents balked at that prediction, and council members doubted it, but still agreed that less traffic would be generated by a residential complex.
Sterling attributed the low traffic numbers to the clustered development being "age associated."
The classification is not a legal age-restriction; it is a marketing term used to attract a retirement-age group of buyers.
Without a guarantee of age restriction in the developer’s conceptual plan, Muscillo said, the council is asking the developer to set aside a definite number of age-restricted units if the tract is rezoned to all residential.
"Sterling said it would consider restricting 20-25 units," Muscillo said. "The age association term alone doesn’t quite cut it with the council. I think if the property is ever going to be developed, there will have to be a compromise," said Muscillo.