Northpointe Development Back on the Map

The Northpointe development has been a long-running saga in Marlboro, first appearing before the townships boards in the 1980's.

The development, a result of the Council on Affordable Housing regulations set for state municipalities, is a 385 unit complex, 85 of which will be considered affordable housing. The site is off of Nolan Road, on the Aberdeen border.

The township entered into an agreement with Ohad Associates, the developer of the complex, more than a decade ago. It is no secret that Marlboro Township has fought the Council on Affordable Housing's regulations, . But existing contracts, such as that in connection with the Entron site, are required to be honored.

COAH was dissolved last year and its regulations are now handled by the State Department of Community Affairs.

An application for the Northpointe development was first presented to the planning board in 1990, but was never developed. In 2004, another application was denied.

At  Jan. 18 planning board meeting, several pieces of the plan were questioned by board members. Board members raised concerns that pieces of the development would require variances.

According to a January News Transcript article, those concerns included "the space between buildings, the setback of the parking lots, the lack of the necessary amount of exterior exposures in some designs and building height and length."

Ohad representatives said a settlement agreement in 2007 means the developer can have a 15 percent deviation, and will not have to apply for variances. However, board members said that settlement does not apply to aesthetic planning.

Northpointe is on the Feb. 15 planning board agenda, 8 p.m. in . According to the agenda, "developers are proposing to construct 300 multifamily dwelling units and 85 affordable multifamily dwelling units, consisting of 20 buildings, pool and a clubhouse."