Franklin Lakes Planning Board approves Cigna housing element
FRANKLIN LAKES — The borough's Planning Board approved an amendment to its housing element on Wednesday, declaring that an ordinance proposing the rezoning of the Cigna property is consistent with its master plan.
The approval is expected to weigh heavily at the Oct. 3 public hearing on the ordinance before the mayor and council. It was introduced on Sept. 5 and will allow for the rezoning of the 89-acre former Cigna/IBM/Express Scripts site to create a new MU-1 mixed-use district with multiple housing, retail and possible federal uses.
The ordinance is worded so that either plan eventually submitted by developer S. Hekemian Group to the borough will be in compliance with its regulations — including some exceptions — and subject to review by the Planning Board. It will not require the more stringent review of its Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Exceptions include:
Federal use: No restriction on hours.
Federal use: No restriction on size or weight limit of trucks (except for Old Mill Road from Parsons Pond Road to Pulis Avenue).
Retail/office: Employees allowed 24-hour access.
Exceptions to off-street parking regulations.
Exceptions to retail/warehouse loading dock regulations.
Residential building height: 52 feet, three stories.
Federal/retail building height: 50 feet.
The township's affordable housing settlement agreements with the developer were approved on Aug. 24. However, they must undergo judicial review at a Superior Court "fairness hearing" on Oct. 24.
If the settlement agreements are approved by the court, the developer will then be free to submit a site plan specifying how the project will look.
No plan yet
There is no conceptual plan for the site yet.
The developer is still pursuing approval for a so-called "federal use" that would include 330,000 square feet for government functions, 70,000 square feet of retail/office space, and 250 multi-housing units, with 12.5%, or 32, of those units affordable.
If the federal use cannot be approved, an alternative "residential option" is included in the ordinance allowing for 495 multi-housing units, 62 affordable, and the same 70,000 square feet of retail/office space.
AGREEMENTS APPROVED Against residents' wishes, Franklin Lakes approves Cigna site development
Both plans call for the donation of 3.5 acres to the borough on which it would build an additional 65-unit affordable housing complex previously planned for McCoy Road totaling 71 affordable housing credits, including special-needs units.
Previously, the developer made two conceptual proposals.
The first, submitted in January, called for 585 multi-housing units on the site. The plan called for 325 apartments, with 15%, or 49 units, affordable. It also called for 260 townhomes, with 20%, or 52 units, affordable. Also included is 50,000 square feet of retail space.
A second proposal, approved in March, called for 305 multi-housing units, 15% to 20% affordable depending on whether they are rentals or for sale, and two warehouses totaling 495,000 square feet.
Both proposals included the additional 3.5 acres for a complex of 55 affordable units, but no indication why the McCoy Road site was no longer suitable.
However, the Fair Share Housing Center subsequently intervened. After further negotiations, a settlement agreement describing the hybrid plan was approved by the council in August.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Franklin Lakes Planning Board approves Cigna housing element
