Crossroads Developer Files Protest

The company seeking to develop a shopping mall/lifestyle center at the intersection of Routes 17 and 287 filed a motion to protest the town council’s that would block that development, Township Attorney John Conte said at Thursday night's town council meeting.

Crossroads Developers, LLC filed the protest days after the township’s an ordinance that would re-zone the property in question for office space only, not retail space. This ordinance repeals three others that would allow for the retail development.

The council is scheduled to adopt the new ordinance at a special meeting scheduled for September 1.

According to Conte, the developers’ lawyers are demanding the ordinance be passed not by a quorum of the council, but by a two-thirds majority, which he said was a legally permissible demand.

Councilman Chuck Jandris said he has no reason to believe that the council would not have the five votes necessary to adopt the ordinance.

Jandris said that when the ordinance was written, five council members voted for it, and he does not expect their votes to change.

“Mine won’t,” he said.

“I will be voting for the ordinance to keep it zoned as office space.”

Over the past week, the council has said it is working as quickly as possible to adopt the ordinance, because if the developer files a complete site plan before adoption, the new law would not legally be able to stop the development.

At Thursday night’s council meeting, Conte reaffirmed public questioning that the Crossroads Developers need to satisfy several legal requirements before submitting what would be considered a “full site plan.”

Council President John Roth said should the developer submit a plan in time, the council would notify the public.

“We’ll let you know,” Roth said at Thursday’s meeting.