Although the sale of the former Maplewood Village Post
Office site is expected to be completed today and the Planning Board is
essentially done with its formal approval of the housing/retail project
slated to go into the space, one roadblock still remains.
A new sewer line. And it's not necessarily a done deal.
Township
officials have determined that the three-story, 20-unit, five-shop
project being built on the post office site by JMF Properties should
include a new sewer bypass to accommodate the extra sanitary needs of
the new building instead of linking it to the existing Maplewood Avenue sewer.
"It's not what anybody wants," Planning Board Chair Tom Carlson said about linking it to the existing sewer line. "They describe it as a maintenance
issue on the part of DPW. It's not that it can't handle it, but as a
maintenance issue it is preferable to get this additional line."
The
additional sewer line, at this point, would go through the Village
Coffee parking lot next to the post office and back behind the buildings
that front Maplewood Avenue from Village Coffee to Arturo's and into
Baker Street.
In order for a new sewer line to be built, an easement must be granted be the parking lot's owners.
The lot that is between the post office site and Village Coffee is
owned by the Township, so that easement is easily granted. But it's the
parking lot behind the buildings -- from Village Coffee to Arturo's --
that is at issue.
That
rear lot is owned by the individual building owners that house the
shops from Village Coffee to Arturo's. Under a 20-year lease agreement,
the Township leases that lot from the building owners in exchange for
maintenance and snow plowing.
That lease ends in March 2016.
The
Township is currently in negotiations with the building owners to allow
the new sewer line to be built, a move that would require trenches to
be dug and disruption of parking. With the lease coming to an end in
March, talks will likely include a change or extension of that lease.
"If we're going to dig a new sewer line through there, we need permission of the property owners," Carlson said.
The
largest property owner in that string of buildings is Saul Fischer, a
longtime landlord in town who owns the buildings at 166, 178 and 180
Maplewood Avenue, as well as sites across the street that include 175 and 177 Maplewood Avenue.
"They're having
discussions with my attorney so whatever it turns out to be I'm all for
the town and the progress that we're making and I'm happy to work with
the town anyway I can," Fischer told Maplewoodian.com. "We're trying to
work together to work it out. It's in their ballpark, we're waiting to hear from them."
Fischer also said he is supportive of the planned post office redevelopment.
"I think it will probably be an improvement," he said. "It's
certainly not going to hurt the Village. I think it will bring more
people to it. I'm sure they will do a nice job in putting the building
up. Most of the objections I hear are that it doesn't fit into the
Village properly design-wise. But I think anything they do will be an improvement and I have a lot of confidence in (Mayor) Vic Deluca."
Find
out more about the land sale at tonight's Township Committee meeting
where it will be discussed and the sale announced. Agenda HERE.
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