It's Back: Cranford Sued Over 750 Walnut Ave. Rezoning Decision

CRANFORD, NJ - Just in time for Halloween, Cranford is being taken to court over the Planning Board's denial of the rezoning request of 750 Walnut Avenue into a multi-unit residential.

"As expected, Hartz Mountain, represented by their firm Hill Wallack, filed a lawsuit against the Township of Cranford today," Mayor Patrick Giblin said in a statement Friday. "The lawsuit challenges the validity of the Planning Board decision to deny the rezoning application for 750 Walnut Avenue, and the Township Committee’s endorsement of that decision at the Sept. 10 meeting."

Giblin noted that the suit was not a builder's remedy lawsuit. A builder's remedy lawsuit can be filed by a real estate developer in an attempt to force a town to allow the construction of a large, multi-family housing complex that includes some affordable housing alongside ordinary apartments.

Back in September, the Township Committee voted 5-0 to accept the Planning Board recommendation to not rezone the 750 Walnut Property.

The redevelopment has been referred to as the dragon at Cranford's gates, the monstrosity and a sign of the times, but whatever it is called, the Hartz Mountain Industries applied to build 905 apartment units on the property, which is currently a commercial zone.

During presentations that spanned more than a year before the Planning Board Demographer Ross Haber and Cranford Public Schools' Superintendent Scott Rubin shared potential impact the development of 750 Walnut Ave.

Haber said that approximately 353 school-aged children would be brought into the Cranford Schools. Haber said 35 would be high school age, 71 would be in grades 6-8 and 247 would be K-5. Haber said that currently the schools are "fully-utilized" and therefore to accommodate the new students a new school would have to be built or the current ones expanded.

According to Dawn Beresford, one of the founding members of Cranford Residents Against Overdevelopment (CRAO) her group had numerous concerns, specifically about the infrastructure of the town being overwhelmed by having so many new residents. Beresford said that the group began as a group of residents who live in the vicinity of 750 Walnut Ave. who were concerned about 905 apartments being built at that site.

For her part, Beresford had told Patch locally the CRAO goal was simple.

"Our main goal is to stop the Planning Board from rezoning 750 Walnut Ave," Beresford said.

Now that decision could be overturned. The lawsuit says that the Planning Board acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner and that it failed to properly consider the evidence presented by the Hartz Mountain experts. The lawsuit also notes that the Township failed to acknowledge and act on the Plaintiff's request for the Township to consider the property for a designation for redevelopment and refers to the actions of the Planning Board as 'indefensible.'

The suit seeks a reversal of the decision, an award of damages, litigation costs and reasonable attorney fees, and such other relief as the court may deem just and equitable.

Giblin said Cranford’s attorneys are reviewing the lawsuit and the Township Committee will discuss in closed session at Monday’s workshop meeting.

"As a member of the Planning Board and the Township Committee, I stand by the decisions of both entities," Giblin said.

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