Planning Board to hear development application

By Geoffrey Wertime and Stephanie Prokop, Staff Writers
CHESTERFIELD — A developer will restart its application to the Planning Board for a residential and commercial development on Old York Road on Monday.
    The application before the board was for a development in the receiving area of the township under the town’s Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, said Mayor Larry Durr, also a member of the Planning Board.
    The application from Chesterfield LLC (also known as Renaissance Properties) is to build 228 single-family homes and three multi-family units on the 96.9-acre lot, for a total of 282 residential units. The commercial units would have a total of 44,970 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, and apartments above.
    Planning Board attorney Fred Hardt said on Wednesday that he doesn’t anticipate any “out-of-the-ordinary” roadblocks with the re-introduction of the application.
    Mr. Hardt said last month there were two reasons why the process would have to start over.
    “(Mayor Durr had) sold his (TDR) credits to the developer and disqualified himself at the first hearing,” Mr. Hardt said, “Unfortunately he sat at the table … and during his sitting there he talked to the engineer.”
    According to law, Mayor Durr said, he had to have completely stepped down from the Planning Board table.
    The other reason cited by Mr. Hardt was a complaint that the audiotapes of the proceedings are inaudible. With two complaints, he said it was “time to throw in the towel.” He added that gaps may appear at the end of one tape when it runs into the beginning of the next, “but rather than get a radio technician to try and show us how that operates it’s easier to do the whole thing over” with a court transcriber, he said.
    Ms. Wills said the Planning Board will hold three special meetings to start the process over on Monday, Oct. 20, Tuesday, Oct. 21, and Monday, Oct. 27. The developer will reissue notices to nearby residents.
    The property is between county Route 528 and Chesterfield-Crosswicks Road.