BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
METUCHEN — With the borough becoming a more and more desirable place to live, a catch-22 has presented itself with the construction of new single family homes.
“I feel they are being built too big and don’t fit with the historical character of some of our neighborhoods,” said Councilman Reed Leibfried, who said this has been a concern of his for quite some time.
Leibfried said on one hand, it’s great that Metuchen is such a desirable place to live and people are flocking to the Brainy Borough and on the other hand there is love for preserving the historical character of the community, which was incorporated in 1900.
In January, Mayor Peter Cammarano asked Leibfried to spearhead the efforts in taking a serious look at curbing development that would change the character of the neighborhoods in the borough.
Leibfried said by June, the Borough Planner will appear before the Borough Council and discuss the exploration of potential new restrictions on single family redevelopment including, but not limited to, demanding design standard input and the possibility of a floor to area ratio ordinance to limit types and sizes of structures allowed on specific lots.
The councilman said borough officials are also concerned with the unique personality of the borough that is being compromised by the development in town, particularly with the uniformity of the new construction homes and the extreme lot size per house.
“It is perceived as an alarming trend by many within our community,” he said.
Leibfried said granting variances and new construction will also put a burden on the borough’s schools, which have always strived to provide the best possible service to the children.
“The concern is that this mission will be more and more difficult to accomplish due to the potential influx of students that [these homes] will service in our school district, which will be a natural consequence to allow the current new construction status quo to be left to continue,” he said.
Leibfried said the exploration into the borough’s options of potential new restrictions on single family redevelopment and the limitation of variances will be open and transparent.
“We want input from all stakeholders as we research possible solutions to attempt to assist the borough with this issue,” he said. “Metuchen has a proud history of fighting to preserve our historical charm and character of our neighborhoods.”
Leibfried said in the past few years the market pressure and dynamic of housing demands in the borough has reached new levels that require borough officials to explore taking their policy strategies and tools to new and unprecedented levels.
“Metuchen is and will remain a desirable place to live and this trend of new construction homes being built will only continue and increase as we become more of a destination town in a multitude of ways due to leadership of the mayor and council,” he said. “I firmly believe that we can rise to this challenge and as always keep the best interest in the community that we all love in the forefront of all decisions that are made regarding this complex and crucial issue.”