Neighborhood meeting shows plans for Irvington Ave. site

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — South Orange trustees Bob Zuckerman and Summer Jones, along with village President Sheena Collum, hosted a Feb. 5 neighborhood meeting at Congregation Beth El about the redevelopment project at 270 Irvington Ave., presenting the redevelopment process and possible design to area residents. Greer Patras, a planner with Topology in Newark, and architect Earl Jackson attended the meeting.

Patras said a challenge of the site is that it lies in four different zoning areas, saying that the current building on the site is not a good example of what the community wants. Attempts at redeveloping the site have been made several times in recent years to no avail.

“To answer a question people often ask, there can’t be a bait and switch here,” Patras said at the meeting. “There’s no power of eminent domain. This is an area in need of rehabilitation, not redevelopment. So there are no tax abatements.”

According to New Jersey’s Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, an area in need of redevelopment can be a condemned or non-condemned project; an area in need of rehabilitation does not have that designation. Therefore, while plans are to redevelop the site, it is not eligible for tax abatements, because it is not designated as needing redevelopment, just rehabilitation.

Patras also described the process at the meeting. The redevelopment agreement must first be approved by the board of trustees. Then the plan will be reviewed by the South Orange Planning Board, before going back to the BOT for final approval.

Jackson went into detail about the design of the project, which will include approximately 48 apartment units at 270 Irvington Ave. and 12 units across the street at 299 Irvington Ave., which is also part of the property. Twelve of the units will meet affordable-housing requirements. According to Jackson, most of the development of the property will happen on Irvington Avenue, to avoid moving into the backyard and closer to the yards of nearby residents.

“If we maximize the amount of development that happens on Irvington Avenue, we can minimize what happens in the back,” he said at the meeting. “So we’ve tried to make the most happen at the front.”

In the proposed design, there will be below-grade parking underneath the building. Jackson said this would limit access to the back of the building, near other residential homes. There will be one parking spot per unit in the building.

The building will have four stories, three of which will be apartments. The ground floor will be community space for those who live in the building; possibilities include a fitness center, day care, and a cafe or small retail space.

“It could open up opportunities for startups in the community, which would be good,” Jackson said.

To make the building fit in with the rest of Irvington Avenue but still look modern, Jackson suggested a mansard roof, which has four sloped sides that become steeper halfway down, creating the illusion that there are fewer stories than there actually are. The top floor’s windows are built into the roof.

“With this you can diminish the presence of height,” Jackson said. “You’re able to achieve a lot of space but still have the character you want.”

The open space in the back will remain a yard, and Jackson said the trees there will not be removed.

“Those existing trees there are great; you have to keep them,” he said. “The canopy they create is great. That’s a place for people to be in a backyard and for kids to play.”

According to Patras in an email to the News-Record on Feb. 7, the developer of the site will address community concerns and questions and will likely have another meeting to take any remaining feedback.

“After that, a redevelopment plan will be drafted by the village, which will be presented for review, comments, edits, etc. by village committees, the Planning Board, and the public,” she said. “Once finalized, the redevelopment plan is presented for first reading/introduction at the board of trustees, presented publicly at the Planning Board, and then returns to the BOT for second reading/public presentation and adoption. Only after the plan is adopted will a developer’s agreement be drafted, negotiated and enacted.”

  Congregation Beth El, FEATURED, Irvington Avenue, Redevelopment, South Orange Board of Trustees