By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — The Township Committee has accepted the suggestion of its planning consultants to include approximately 271 residential units in the Skillman Village redevelopment plan.
The decision came on Wednesday, during a special meeting in which the 2008 draft of the plan was released.
The Skillman Village redevelopment project area includes 256 acres, with an eastern border on Burnt Hill Road and a western boarder on Belle Mead-Blawenburg Road or Route 601.
Township Planning Director Lori Savron said capping the number of residential units at around 271 would generate a small enough increase in traffic to prevent roads in and surrounding Skillman Village from exceeding their traffic capacity, while at the same time providing enough development to positively impact taxes.
According to the redevelopment plan, no more than 200 of the units can be sold at market rates. Of these 200 units, no more than 175 will be restricted to residents aged 55 and over, with at least 25 of these homes to be luxury units in townhome, quadraplex or similar compact style. The remaining approximately 25 market-rate units are to be luxury, single family, detached homes with no age restrictions. The other 71 units are to be sold at affordable rates established by the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing. The number of affordable units to be included has been calculated based on township consultants and employees’ interpretation of COAH’s revised third round regulations that are pending approval.
The assumed COAH obligations are based on both the residential and commercial development planned for the site. The intended commercial development will include retailers, offices and some medical facilities. While 90 percent of commercial development is to be concentrated in one area, the plan requires 10 percent of those uses be dispersed throughout the residential portions of Skillman Village, which Ms. Savron said would likely only account for one or two free-standing commercial buildings.
While the plan assigns specific types of residential units to be built on some parts of the property, it generally seeks to encourage as much integration of different categories of residential units as possible. The plan also gives redevelopers the ability to change the boundaries of redevelopment sections of Skillman Village as long as they are able to promote the township’s goals for the site.
”The plan talks to the fact that the boundaries of these areas are not marked in stone. …” said the township’s planning consultant Rich Coppola.
More than half of Skillman Village will include more restricted development. The slightly over 157 acres of Skillman Village to be designated as “restricted improvement area” will be reserved for open space, conservation, civic, public, recreational, cultural and educational uses. Ensuring that at least 140 acres of Skillman Village be reserved for these types of uses was a condition of the state’s sale of the property to the township. The perimeter of the site accounts for some of these 157 acres, with the bulk of the restricted improvement area based in the western portion of the site. A few additional restricted improvement area acres are to run through the center of Skillman Village.
The site will include even more restricted development dispersed throughout the residential and commercial areas, as the plan calls for 15 percent of these parts of the Skillman Village to be converted into centralized open space and gathering places, such as gazebos and village squares, or recreational facilities.
Providing pedestrian and bicycle connectivity throughout Skillman Village is another overall objective of the site plan.
Additional residential units could be added to the site by the nonprofit Global Communities of Support, which has agreed to build four group homes and lease three two-bedroom apartments in Skillman Village for young adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. Local hospitals have also expressed interest in using the site, but have not provided specifics on what kinds of facilities they might bring.
”It is absolutely the case that we are working on a planning document that leaves a lot of room for flexibility,” said Deputy Mayor Brad Fay. “We have made the decision to provide the private sector and the nonprofit sector to come forth with ideas and I think it will be an exciting process … and every step of the way we will continue to get public input.”
The draft plan will be presented Thursday, March 13, during a Skillman Village Steering Committee meeting and on April 3, 4 and 5, all potential master redevelopers of Skillman Village will engage in public question and answer sessions with the Township Committee.
