Objector's Planner Says Vista Would Not Be Beneficial

The hilly, wooded land is not suited for the proposed 258-unit Vista expansion, according to planning expert Peter Steck.

Steck was hired to testify at the Wyckoff Zoning Board's special meeting Monday about the Vista project by S.A.V.E. Wyckoff, a group opposed to the plan.

According to Steck, the proposed building would technically be six stories tall under Wyckoff zoning law. The ordinance states that a building's height should be measured from the ground to its highest point, which is a gap of 80 feet in this case because the building would rise with the hill. A CHCC representative had previously testified that the project would technically count as several seperate buildings because of fire walls between the different wings.

The site would also be inconvenient for its residents because of the hill and the distance to area businesses or even other buildings on the CHCC campus, Steck said.

"The relationship here is not by any stretch of the imagination a convenient pedestrian one," Steck said. "There would be few people that would walk this regularly."

Steck also said the 80-foot buffer of trees between the building and neighboring houses would not be sufficient to block the view of the senior housing facility.

Steck questioned statistics cited by CHCC project planner Richard Preiss at a . According to Preiss, the 2000 census estimated that the population of residents age 60 or older will grow 58 percent between 2000 and 2025. According to Steck, a 2009 census estimate found that there are fewer senior citizens living in Wyckoff.

Preiss had testified that there was a need for this project, but Steck said he believed it did not count as an "inherently beneficial use" as planned.

If built, the Vista would be large compared to similar facilities because of both the number of units and the size of the units, Steck said.

"They're essentially the size of a small single-family house," Steck said.

CHCC attorney Jerry Vogel said he wanted to wait until the next hearing to cross-examine Steck.

The next zoning board hearing for the Vista project will be March 12 at 7:30 p.m. in .