Community Development Director says changes represent minor alterations
By: William Wichert
As the lawsuit between Fieldsboro and Bordentown Township over a proposed Route 130 South shopping center moves forward, the developer is looking to change its plan.
Three weeks after township officials filed a response to the borough’s lawsuit, Mount Laurel-based Freedman Cohen Development LLC is expected to return to the township Planning Board at a public hearing Monday for amended site plan approval. The board approved the application in July.
"They’re coming back for a revision of an original application, which is not uncommon," said Community Development Director Werner Nitschmann by phone Tuesday.
Approval of the new plan would allow the developer to replace a 6,000-square-foot restaurant with a 4,500-square-foot bank and a 1,800-square-foot coffee shop, and then reduce a 28,125-square-foot building by 4,000 square feet, according to the public notice and Mr. Nitschmann. The 12-acre shopping center, which is expected to be built near Dunns Mill and Rising Sun roads, also will include a 54,468-square-foot Acme supermarket.
The attorney who represented Freedman Cohen at previous public hearings did not return a call for comment.
While he admitted that the gravity of these changes may be a matter of debate, Mr. Nitschmann said they represent minor alterations that ultimately will decrease the size of the project.
"If you’re reducing the square-footage, you’re reducing the density of the use," said Mr. Nitschmann.
Donald Nogowski, the attorney representing Fieldsboro, said he did not consider these changes to be a response to the lawsuit, but he said the project’s density is exactly what the borough is challenging in court.
"They’re cramming too much commercial space in a lot that shouldn’t support it," Mr. Nogowski said by phone Monday.
In its attempt to have the Planning Board approval overturned, the borough is taking issue with the 13 variances, or zoning changes, included in that approval, allowing the developer to increase the size of this project.
Those variances include permission for a 10-foot buffer area on the Dunns Mill Road side, where 50 feet is required, and a 26-foot setback on Rising Sun Road, instead of the required 75 feet. Other variances allow the developer to provide almost 200 fewer trees than the current zoning law requires.
The size of the project and its proximity to the residential areas of Fieldsboro will cause several problems, including traffic, noise, lighting and downstream flooding, according to the complaint.
Within their answer, township officials defended their approval of the application by writing: "…the Planning Board found that the development should be approved with various conditions designed to moderate the impact and that there was not a substantial detrimental impact on the public good sufficient to call for a denial of the approval of the plans submitted."
But Mr. Nogowski contends that the impact on Fieldsboro should have been considered by the Planning Board. Although the developer is not building on the two acres of the site that lie within the borough, all of the storm-water runoff from the project will enter Fieldsboro, meaning that the developer also should have obtained approval from the borough, he said.
"We think (the township Planning Board) should have conditioned their approval on the applicant getting their approval from Fieldsboro," said Mr. Nogowski.
In its complaint, the borough cites a municipal law passage that required the Planning Board to consider Fieldsboro in its approval, but township officials said in their answer that this citation does not apply, because no development will be located in Fieldsboro.
Mr. Nogowski said the first court hearing to discuss the lawsuit will be scheduled for the end of the month.

