Report: Apartment Complex Hearing Debated

After some back and forth, a report says a proposed plan that asks to build a luxury apartment complex on Island Road in Ramsey will continue to be heard in front of the borough’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.

According to a NorthJersey.com report, Mayor Chris Botta submitted a letter to Board of Adjustment Chairman Howard Cantor earlier this year suggesting the developer’s proposal – which requires two use variances to build the three-building complex on the land currently occupied by Ramsey Lumber – should be heard by the mayor and council instead of the BOA.

In his letter, Botta said “It is customary that proposed developments of this magnitude, which will impact every layer of our community, be brought first to the attention of Ramsey's elected officials, the mayor and council," the report said. "The mayor and council have the direct responsibility for providing for the overall well-being of all residents of the borough."

Cantor told NorthJersey.com that the application would be heard in front of the Zoning Board, which has the right to grant the variances needed.

"I'm dealing with the letter at the moment as a non-issue," he said in the report. "Only if, as a result of hearing this case, we were ready to grant a use variance — at that point in time, [the council] would step in to reclassify it.”

In January, Russo Developers modified an application it submitted to the borough last year proposing the luxury apartment complex. The revised plan, which calls for three buildings with 196 apartment units, stalled a Zoning Board hearing that started last year.

The application is expected to return to the zoning board hearing April 17, the report said.

Read the full report here.

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