MONTGOMERY: Hearing on cluster housing postponed

By Kristine Snodgrass, Staff Writer
   MONTGOMERY — A crowd of residents was stymied in its attempt to speak out at the Planning Board meeting Monday night against a proposed cluster development they say will damage the environment.
   The proposed 54 house development, consisting of 3,000- to 4,000-square-foot houses on half-acre or smaller lots, would be built on an 88-acre site known as Westwind Farms, located between Sunset and Burnt Hill roads.
   A group of about 25 neighbors attended, along its own environmental expert, to express concerns about the potential threat to wildlife habitat, said Burnt Hill Road resident Paul Cresti.
   Mayor Louise Wilson, a Planning Board member, said the board would not hear the applicant, East Country Development, because it had not provided all the information the board had requested, and some material had been submitted too late for the township engineer to review.
   ”It’s bad form, frankly, to reappear without having done what you said you’re going to do, with a roomful of neighbors who took time out of their weekday night to sit in the municipal building,” she said.
   Representatives for the developer are next scheduled to appear before the Planning Board on April 13, she said. Residents were frustrated at this result because it coincides with the Montgomery Township School District’s spring break, meaning that many residents will not be able to attend, Mr. Cresti said.
   The meeting can be postponed past April 14, the board’s deadline to rule on the application, only with the permission of the applicant, Mayor Wilson said.