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ROBBINSVILLE: Proposed zoning change irks some neighbors

Township says more potential uses are needed to create more ratables

By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
   ROBBINSVILLE — A plan to rezone the eastern end of Robbinsville-Allentown Road, including the 18th century Wittenborn house and farm, for commercial uses is being denounced as “codified sprawl” by some Allentown officials and residents.
   The proposed rezoning from “rural residential transitional” to “village transitional zone district” would allow a range of nonresidential development, which Robbinsville officials say are needed to bring in tax ratables.
   The proposed VT zone permits office and medical buildings, specialty retail shops, hair salons, restaurants, a bed and breakfast, indoor recreational facilities, residential schools, and long-term or short-term health-care facilities. Large warehouses and convenience stores are not listed among the permitted uses.
   The 20-acre Wittenborn property, which is for sale, consists of 15 acres of farmland and an adjoining 5-acre lot at 824 Robbinsville-Allentown Road, where there is a large three-story Colonial home whose original portion dates to the late 1700s.
   The fate of the Wittenborn house is unclear, although the proposed ordinance says that the “owner will make best efforts to preserve” it. Council President Sheree McGowan said Monday that one possibility the owner is considering is selling the house so it can be turned into a bed-and-breakfast.
   ”We would like that if it can be worked out,” said Christiana Wittenborn when contacted by phone Tuesday. Ms. Wittenborn, her husband and two children live on the property, which is owned by her father-in-law, Dr. William Wittenborn.
   The proposed VT zone would extend beyond the Wittenborn farm to include a modern house next door on a 3-acre lot, which also is listed for sale, at 900 Robbinsville-Allentown Road. Also affected by the proposed zoning change are 29 acres of farmland on four privately owned lots that are located farther west on Robbinsville-Allentown Road (Route 526) between Circle Drive and Corporate Boulevard across from Mercer Corporate Park.
   The Robbinsville Township Council held a public hearing Aug. 19 on the proposed zoning change, but did not vote on it. Council President McGowan said action was being postponed until the council’s Sept. 23 meeting at the request of the Planning Board, which wanted time to comment on the plan.
   The Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 15.
   Allentown Environmental Commission Chairman Gregory Westfall criticized the proposed zoning change at last week’s Robbinsville council meeting, saying it is inconsistent with previous open space purchases Robbinsville has made in the area and incompatible with the greenbelt that surrounds Allentown.
   ”Allentown has been identified as Historic Village Center by the State Planning Commission and its designation is threatened by the transitional village zoning, which is in essence, codified sprawl,” Mr. Westfall said.
   A half-square-mile community with about 700 households, Allentown’s Historic District is listed on both the state and national registers of historic places. Allentown received the Historic Village Center designation from the State Planning Commission in 2002.
   Ms. Wittenborn rejected Mr. Westfall’s assertion that the potential development of her family’s property threatened Allentown’s historic status.
   ”As far any development jeopardizing Allentown’s historic designation, I have researched that and been told that Allentown’s designation stops at their line,” Ms. Wittenborn said at the council meeting. “Nothing that’s done outside the actual town can affect their registration.”
   Ms. Wittenborn also pointed out to the Township Council that Allentown Borough has no jurisdiction in the matter.
   ”The property lies in Robbinsville and it lies in Mercer County — it does not fall at all in Allentown,” she said. “We understand (Allentown officials) want a greenbelt, but we were never consulted about whether our property should be included.”
   Allentown residents Kenneth McCaffrey, of Johnson Drive, and Jean Hunter, of Waker Avenue, told the council that while the Wittenborn property is located in Robbinsville, rezoning it would impact Allentown.
   ”We are being swamped with additional growth that our roads, horse-and-buggy roads dating to the 1700s, cannot accommodate,” Ms. Hunter said.
   The council did not reply to the comments made by the residents nor those made by Mr. Westfall.
   The Wittenborn house, which is included in NJ Historic Preservation Office’s online listing of properties by its historical name, the Imlay-Busby Farm, was certified in 2006 as eligible to apply for historic preservation funding programs.
   Ms. Wittenborn said Tuesday that a group of Allentown and Upper Freehold residents submitted the eligibility application to the state without the family’s permission and that the next step, to have the property placed on either the state or national registers of historic places, never occurred.
   ”You can’t put something into preservation without the owner’s consent,” Ms. Wittenborn said.
   Ms. Wittenborn said Tuesday that when her father-in-law purchased the property in the 1970s it was zoned for commercial use. The zoning was changed to rural residential in the 1980s by the township, and the family has been trying to have it changed back to allow nonresidential development since then.
   ”No one loves the house more than the family does,” Ms. Wittenborn said. “But my personal opinion is that it’s great to find other uses for older buildings so they can be sustained. It’s very unrealistic to lock an older building into box like that without a way to pay for its upkeep.”
   John Simone, of Simone Realty, who is marketing the property, said the Wittenborn family has not set an asking price for the house and land.