PLANNING BOARD PUNTS ON APPEAL OF POST OFFICE PLAN APPROVALS

Planning Board discusses post office appeal Tuesday night

The Maplewood Planning Board on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal of the Maplewood Village Alliance's approval of the controversial post office redevelopment plan.

Village Keepers Inc. filed the appeal, claiming that the Maplewood Village Special Improvement District, which is under the oversight of the Maplewood Village Alliance, improperly approved the plan last month that calls for a three-story, 20-unit building with five retail shops on the site of the former post office.

The appeal stated that the MVA should not have approved the plans from JMF Properties because the developer did not show "significant financial hardship," which is necessary prior to approving destruction of a building in a special improvement district.

Village Keepers has also filed a lawsuit against the Township claiming similar improper actions and three counts of illegal procedures.

But the Planning Board on Tuesday unanimously voted on a motion stating it did not have jurisdiction over the appeal after a closed-door meeting with Board Attorney Michael Edelson.

Edelson read the following statement after the closed session:

Deciding the appeal set forth in the May 21, 2015 letter from Village Keepers Inc.
requires resolving the legal issue of whether the provision of the Post Office
Redevelopment Plan requiring demolition of the post office building or the
provisions of the Maplewood Village Alliance Design Criteria Ordinance, requiring
certain proofs before any demolition can take place, take precedence.  The Planning
Board is not a judicial or quasi judicial body that has the authority to adjudicate
such issues.

At approximately the same time that the Village Keepers served their appeal letter
to the Planning Board, they filed an action in lieu of prerogative writs in the
Superior Court naming the Alliance, the Township of Maplewood and the designated
developer of the post office redevelopment site as defendants.  That lawsuit raises
exactly the same issues that are raised in the appeal letter to the Board.
The Board accordingly declines jurisdiction of the appeal.

Prior to the closed session, Board Chair Tom Carlson said this marked the first time since the appeals clause was created that it had been used to oppose an MVA action: "This clause is about 15 years old and has never been invoked before," Carlson said. 

In other action, the board also gave initial approval to changes sought by developers of the 126-unit Maplewood Crossings housing complex on Burnett Avenue, who had sought to build another eight townhouses but wanted to change it to a 25-unit apartment building.

The board voted, 8-0, with three abstentions to recommend the 25-unit addition after hearing from representatives of Elite Properties, which is making the request.

"The market for town houses is a little uncertain," said Dave Checchio, Elite Properties general counsel. "We believes these will rent rapidly as the units in the past did."