By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Zoning board members reaffirmed the long-range Town Center concept on May 4.
The Town Center idea, enacted in the master plan and zoning ordinances about 10 years ago, envisions at least three-story buildings close to the street, apartments above stores, off-street parking behind buildings and other details to create a pedestrian friendly, compact business area.
Think far into the future of something like Somerville, Princeton or Madison.
What the Board of Adjustment faced — for the second time — on May 4 was a decision whether a plan by the Shoppes at Woods Road gave some of that feel and desire.
The board decided it didn’t.
The zoners again rejected a plan by Shoppes to allow for office buildings with apartments on upper floors behind the existing center that houses Pizza Hut, Halinka Polish Deli and yogurt and sushi restaurants, among other stores, near the intersection of Amwell Road.
Shoppes wanted to add three buildings with 26 apartment units (four for low- and moderate-incomes) in the back parking area adjacent to Petrock’s restaurant. Shoppes wanted zoning relief to allow more ground-floor offices than the ordinance calls for, and it wanted to keep parking in the front of strip of stores that front on 206.
The Board of Adjustment originally rejected the plan in September 2011 in 5-0 vote, but the applicants went to court. A three-member appellate court sent the matter back to the Hillsborough zoning board and asked it to use a different standard in considering approvals.
By a 5-2 vote, the answer was still no.
On May 4 Shoppes presented a revised plan that it said would help the township “transition” to the Town Center by bringing residences to the downtown area, eliminating one driveway cut onto Amwell Road and pledging to eliminate parking between Route 206 and the strip center in the future.
Attorney Andrew Fisher said the Shoppes plan would take steps to achieve the architectural and visual look the board wanted, and lock in a piece of a future street in the back of the property.
Chairman Steven Sireci Jr. took a different view. The variances Shoppes wanted wouldn’t mean the beginning of a future town center, but the end of it, he said.
If the board went against its ordinance by allowing parking in front of stores, and allowing single-story buildings set back far from the street, how could it deny those same type of variances to other owners of similar properties in the same zone? he asked rhetorically
Once the board grants a concession here, what would stop others for claiming the same hardship? Dr. Sireci asked rhetorically, even though board attorney Jolanta Maziarz assured there would no precedent, with future applications standing on their own.
The board wants the vibrancy of town center, said Dr. Sireci, with people walking into ground-floor stores and shops separated from the street only by a sidewalk.
Shoppes steadfastly resisted changes — probably a demolition, although none was suggested — to the strip center.
It also wanted to build fewer apartments on the proposed offices in the back parking lot and to have as many offices on the first floor as the market would bear.
Shoppes’ compromise plan eliminated the parking spots in front of the strip center fronting on Route 206, but not until far into the future, when the road network was changed.
It proposed replacing the front parking area with lawn. It made up for some of the lost parking with parallel slots along the new “Main Street” (the current Route 206). It also eliminated one driveway cut off Route 206.
The plan reduced parking by 34 spaces, but picked up 13 with parallel parking on the street and adding 21 in the back parking lot.
A hangup was timing. Shoppes’ plan would only take effect once the state-financed Route 206 bypass was fully completed; Route 206 was narrowed as a future Main Street, and an alley connection was built off Route 206 midway between Amwell and New Amwell roads to allow access to parking in the back lots.
The board wondered aloud how that would be enforced. It would mean that a future township government would somehow have to enforce the conditions of approval.
The Shoppes owner, David Gardner, has repeatedly said he must have parking in front of the strip center on Route 206 to meet leases and to make the property economically viable.
Member John Stamler said the board wanted to see mix of uses in all buildings and tried to broker a compromise that would allow up to 30 percent offices on ground floor. It would have allowed the new parking and road plan, and forbid offices on the strip of shops facing Route 206.
The motion was defeated, 5-2, with Frank Herbert and Mr. Stamler as the two votes for approval. Frank Valchek, Curt Suraci, Steve Monte, John Shockley and Dr. Sireci voted no.
