Speak Out On Cranford's 750 Walnut Ave. Redevelopment Wednesday

CRANFORD, NJ - The Planning Board is poised to decide on the contested redevelopment of 750 Walnut Ave., but first there will be one final round of public comment allowed Wednesday.

According to officials, this will be the last chance to speak out about the application before the Planning Board makes its decision.

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 has applied to build 905 apartment units on the property, which is currently a commercial zone.

According to Dawn Beresford, one of the founding members of Cranford Residents Against Overdevelopment (CRAO) her group has numerous concerns, specifically about the infrastructure of the town being overwhelmed by having so many new residents.

"Our main goal is to stop the Planning Board from rezoning 750 Walnut Ave. We also want to make sure that if Hartz does get approval to build, we can keep the density down and ensure that the town does not give Hartz a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes)," Beresford said. "CRAO is also involved with a statewide group who are trying to get the state Senate to change the laws regarding Builder's Remedy lawsuits, which allow big developers to build high-density apartment buildings in the name of affordable housing."

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.

During presentations before the Planning Board thus far 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.

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