Garden Apartment Zoning Changes Await More Input

A Nutley official updated progress on plans to rezone parts of town for industrial use to prevent new garden apartments along sections of River Road.

Commissioner Joseph Scarpelli said he expects to introduce the changes at the next meeting on June 18.  Scarpelli said the major issue is how the nearly 300 new housing units, some of which are not even online yet, will affect the town, particularly the school population.

The Nutley Board of Education last month discussed possible overcrowding problems at schools, and Scarpelli said he is concerned with Washington School, located near the two large housing projects approved in the past year in the East Centre Street area.

Nutley officials have said they are concerned with increasing housing density in Nutley and increased needs for services like police and fire, along with rising school enrollment.

Evans said in May that the situation is less of a problem, with fewer students coming from those housing units and many of the students who have been added already attending middle or high school, where overcrowding is not yet a problem.

Scarpelli said he is waiting for input from Planning Board members, which could delay the introduction.

Scarpelli agreed to table the change in May after Commissioner Thomas Evans said the board needed more information and discussion about the need for the move.

Evans was absent from Tuesday night’s board meeting, and could not be reached for comment.

Scarpelli said the number of students is spread among many condominium or garden apartment complexes, including the Gateway, Sleepy Hollow and Riverview developments.

The commissioners need to agree on a vision of the future, and look at the implications of allowing for a manufacturing zone on the town economy, Evans said previously.

The recently-formed Economic Development Committee will offer an initial report later this year.  Any change should be discussed as part of that effort, officials said.

Commissioner Mauro Tucci said the Planning Board approved the East Centre Street housing units under the existing Master Plan, but Scarpelli said the Master Plan is now set to be changed to discourage building more garden apartments.

Mayor Alphonse Petracco said that while questions need to be answered, the new housing units are an improvement for the East Centre Street neighborhood.

M&M East Centre Street, LLC  was approved to build more than 150 units, about a third of which are two-bedroom, and the rest one-bedroom, while the zoning board also granted a variance for an additional 23, two-bedroom and 21, one-bedroom housing units all on East Centre Street, in March 2012, according to meeting records.

School board member Thomas Sposato testified at that time that the units would not have a large negative effect on the school district.

A second project in April from an applicant Skender Meka proposed to use four apartment buildings that would have 82 units at two-and-a-half stories at 113 East Centre St.

Nutley attorney Thomas Dibiasi represented both applicants.