Urbanization in Teaneck

Two More Multi-Family Building Proposals

Letter to the Editor

Unanswered Questions

In 2004, Teaneck published “Pathways to the Future”, a roadmap to the Teaneck of the future to which hundreds of residents actively contributed. Portions of the Visioning Statement include:

In 2006, a few newly-elected leaders and their appointed land-use board members set out on what became a relentless drive to turn this peaceful, single-family mature suburb into a densely populated urban district with hi-rise buildings, underground and tall-structured parking facilities, and mixed-use business, retail, and multifamily housings zones. (The history of Teaneck campaign tactics in the 21st century will be discussed by Teaneck Voices as we approach November elections).

At this time, the Master Plan was due for review and revision/amendment in 2007. In 2007, the Planning Board tackled the review of the Master Plan which stated among its goals:

The 2007 Planning Board battled over that goal. A majority supported low density, single-family housing, but a growing minority urged increased multifamily development to increase ratables (tax revenues). With a non-tax-paying hospital, university, and ever-increasing number of houses of worship, the new officials insisted multifamily, urban development was needed.

It was noted then, and should be noted now, that the previous attempt in the mid 1970’s had the same rationale. This was the Glenpointe development. The argument to build was successful based on the promised tax revenue. Unfortunately, that tax revenue was never realized. And the primary landlord, Sanzari Enterprises, has waged a long-time, and still ongoing battle for partial return of taxes paid, because occupancy never met expectations. In 2021, Teaneck Council agreed to borrow $8.25M to cover the Glenpointe tax appeal settlement for the years 2007 through 2018. 

Starting in 2006, there were ongoing proposals for multi-family housing. Every proposal followed a similar pattern:

In early days, some neighborhoods were successful in turning away multifamily, high-density development; as changes produced a town leadership bent on more urban development in Teaneck, neighbor groups were less and less successful.

Here are some of the high-density developments proposed since 2006 and their outcomes.

 

And currently scheduled to go before the Board of Adjustment (Zoning Board) at its next meeting seeking multiple variances (see next article):

In sum, urban development (multifamily housing, taller buildings, parking structures, apartment buildings adjacent to the CSX railroad several of whose trains carry highly flammable, unstable Bakken oil) is occurring throughout Teaneck.

Protests are usually mounted solely by immediate neighbors affected by the particular development project, not the whole town. This allows township officials to ignore the magnitude of the concern about the trend towards urbanized development and the erosion of Teaneck's historical character as “a vibrant, active community that retains its small town-town sensibility” and “Preserve[s] the character of existing low-density residential neighborhoods forming the predominant character of the Township” .

To be effective, those who are concerned about this development trend must find a way to work together to challenge urbanization projects wherever they occur in Teaneck.

The traditional way residents come together to set the guidelines for future development is through the construction of the town's Master Plan.

A Master Plan is a document and policy guide designed to help communities create a vision of what they want to look like in the future. Master Plans help guide communities in their decisions on land use development and preservation.

Master Plans are reviewed and updated as needed every ten years. Teaneck is overdue in adopting an updated Master Plan.

Master Plans are supposed to be written communally with wide input by all residents from every neighborhood in the community. Teaneck needs its new Master Plan and all residents should insist that it be constructed with their collective input.

At the top of this article, we provided a link to Pathways to the Future. Look at the Methodology section of Pathways. It provides a step-by-step blueprint and guide to a municipality identifying a vision, building a pathway to that vision, and creating a document to serve as an Action Plan to achieve that vision. That document is a MASTER PLAN.

The Township’s Board of Adjustment is scheduled to meet on Thursday, January 6 at 7:00pm to hear two site plan applications that share a recurring characteristic among Teaneck’s evolving land use applications and approvals.

Both applications propose multi-story and multi-family rental buildings on properties whose zoning does not allow them. In one case, the application is for 20 units in the Town’s R/S zone (single family residences). In the other, the application seeks approval for a structure with 30 dwelling units in the B/2 zone where the designated use is Business/Office.

The sites are located a mile and a half from each other.

Site #1. The original site plan called for 24 units and 42 parking spaces. It was completed in July 2020, but the public was not given access to the site plan application (which was denied) until May 6, 2021.

The revised application is to construct a 20-unit rental building with 34 parking spaces right in the middle of a single family residential neighborhood located at 54 West Englewood Ave., a block west of Teaneck Road.

Initial testimony in support of the application has already been heard in four previous Board meetings and has created some sharp exchanges between the chair (who has now recused himself) and another Board member. It is expected to prompt some organized opposition from affected neighbors. If the neighbors know it is happening.

And, on January 6th, a fifth hearing regarding 54 W. Englewood Avenue is scheduled. The Site Planner is supposed to make a presentation. But, again, the public has not been adequately informed because the information is buried in the November 9th Board of Adjustment zoom meeting.

More disturbing is the fact that when the public was finally invited to ask questions in the previous Board session, no one spoke – perhaps because the invitation for public input was only issued at 3 hours and 58 minutes of the meeting, just minutes before the end of that Board session. 

Does this application really sit in the middle of single-family residences? Take a look at a snip of the site’s geography from the applicant’s own witness (the yellow dots outline the site):

Site #2. The other January 6th application is for a multi-family rental composed of 30 apartment units, in 3 stories, above a ground floor parking lot at 205 Cedar Lane.

The property is a former bank building located next door to Teaneck Shell on one side and a medical building on the other. The history of this application is less strung out than the West Englewood site. This revised site plan was not completed until August, 2021.

Although the hearing on it was scheduled to begin in November, it was pushed first to December, and then quietly pushed to January – with the proviso that the applicant would not have to re-notice those most affected about the new January hearing.

A quick read of the description of the agenda summaries of the application quickly demonstrates how may variances – in addition to the all-important use variances - would have to be accepted by the Board in order to approve this application.

But there is an even worse problem with the Town’s handling of this application in terms of public access. Although the Board has had the original applicants site plan and its own letter of denial since August, as of January 2nd, (just four days before the first hearing on the revised application), these foundational documents have never yet been made available to the public on the Town website.

Worse, you would have to scroll through the 112 page agenda packet for the October 7th meeting even to discover the drawings for the 205 Cedar Lane proposal embedded without explanation in the middle of the Glassberg Resident application drawings.

But now, the affected neighbors who live on Merrison - immediately behind (to the north) of the proposed facility - are hurriedly organizing to try to keep this very high structure from appearing in their own backyards though proposed variances to the current zoning.

Take a look:

In sum, although many of Teaneck’s residents are increasingly concerned with the urbanization of the Town, it is almost impossible for interested residents to find out where the next urban, multi-family facility domino will fall.

Meeting schedules and their agendas are posted late and change so frequently that they

become impossible to track.

Required publications are often missing from the Town website.

Our land use boards are authorized to make crucial decisions about zoning regulations and to decide when it is okay for developers to redraw the suburban Town we thought we had chosen. But variances are supposed to be exceptional and to be fully justified.

Teaneck Voices has found only one publicly useful document that clarifies just how difficult it should be under state law and code, for our Planning and Board of Adjustment to approve zone-defying applications.

Take 20 minutes to read through this Planner’s document. It was written to define the obligations of the Board of Adjustment in evaluating the 54 West Englewood application and its request that Teaneck forget the rules when particular variances are at stake.

In 2021, Teaneck Voices had a few articles about public education in Teaneck, focused mostly on the Board of Education candidates and the election.

In 2022, Teaneck Voices intends to devote more coverage to key issues facing public education.

To that end, we spoke with Dennis Klein last Wednesday, December 28th. As many of you undoubtedly know, Dennis was recently elected to the Board of Education and will take office as a Trustee this January.

Dennis is a professor of history and director of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program at Kean University, a public university, which happens to be one of the larger producers of secondary school teachers in the country, and among the largest in New Jersey.

He is passionate about public education and feels that all residents should take an interest in it because everyone, he reminds us, has a stake in quality public education, whether they have kids in the public schools or not.

In response to my question “What do you think the major challenges in 2022 would be?” he shared some of his thoughts.

In October of 2019, Teaneck Public Schools were awarded, and the Board of Education accepted, a $3.3 million-dollar, 5-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education entitled The School Climate Transformation Grant. One of the goals includes adoption of a district-wide strategy for addressing student behavior to strengthen -

In addition, Dennis would love to see Teaneck include a district-wide Restorative Justice Program as one of the grant’s goals in order to enlist students in negotiating conflicts in the classroom and extracurricular school activities.

Teaneck Voices wishes an exciting and successful New Year to our Board of Education, faculty, and students in all Teaneck schools.

Dear staff of Teaneck Voices,

I just finished reading your last edition of Teaneck Voices for 2021.

I am so inspired by the work you have done in the past and continue to do.

I am grateful for the hard work, dedication to fact finding, respectful reporting and overall support your publication gives to the residents of our Teaneck community.

I feel that you practice the qualities of engagement that you encourage in your publication.

Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do going forward.

I hope that this publication continues to grow so that we, as a diverse community, can live up to our aspirations.

May you, all, stay safe, healthy & energized!

May your New Year 2022 be full of hope!

In gratitude & peace,

-Carol Rivera-Kron

Teaneck will hold a tax sale on 1/13/2022 for properties with delinquent taxes. Which Council member is sole or part owner of the most properties on the current published tax sale list?

When will the Planning Board act on the on the required and very delinquent Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP)?

Township Manager Press Release [excerpted]

TOWNSHIP OF TEANECK

OFFICE OF THE TOWNSHIP MANAGER

Paul A. Volcker Municipal Green | 818 Teaneck Road | Teaneck, NJ 07666

(201) 837 – 1600 | Fax (201) 837 – 9547

admin@teanecknj.gov

Township Manager

Deputy Township Manager

December 20, 2021

Over the past weekend, Teaneck registered ninety eight (98) new COVID-19 cases, a number that’s very alarming to me and to our local health officials. Despite very favorable vaccination percentages, Teaneck and the County of Bergen remain at a high risk level (Orange) for COVID transmission. Because of the significant uptick in positive COVID-19 cases in the Teaneck community, I have made the decision to close all municipal buildings to the public effective Tuesday, December 21, 2021. This action is just one measure that will be taken to help keep our community, workforce and families safe from the spread of the virus.

Although the buildings will be closed to the public, residents can continue to conduct business and communicate with the Township during normal business hours in the following format:

...The municipal buildings will remain closed to the public through Monday, January 17, 2022. We will reopen our facilities to the public on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 contingent upon data showing COVID-19 cases have declined to a safe level, and our health officer determines it’s appropriate to do so. The January 18, 2022 reopening date allows us to safely get through the Holiday season, and the fourteen (14) day post-Holiday incubation period.

...As a reminder, everyone 16 and older should get a booster shot at any vaccine location if it has been at least two months since their one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot or at least six months after completing their two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccine series.

At this time, only the Pfizer vaccine is authorized and recommended for adolescents aged 16 and 17...

Eligible individuals may choose which vaccine they receive as a booster dose. Some people may have a preference for the vaccine type that they originally received and others may prefer to get a different booster. CDC's recommendations allow for this type of mix and match dosing for booster shots.

COVID-19 vaccines are working well to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death, even against the widely circulating Delta variant. However, studies show that vaccination may become less effective over time, especially in preventing infection or milder illness and in people over 65 years old. Booster doses provide necessary additional protection against waning immunity. All eligible individuals are encouraged to get booster shots.

As I previously reported, The NJ Department of Health and Vault Medical Services have partnered to offer a free, at-home COVID-19 saliva test kit that is available to every New Jerseyan who thinks they need a test – even if you don't have symptoms. For additional information and to order a free test kit, visit https://learn.vaulthealth.com/nj/

Although there are no numerical limits for indoor and outdoor gatherings, I ask everyone to use good judgement to help save lives and prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the new Omicron variant is highly contagious. We are experiencing many breakthrough cases with the Delta and Omicron variant.

Remember you can be an asymptomatic carrier even when fully vaccinated so taking precautions protects you, your family, and the community.

COVID-19 remains a threat, particularly at indoor gatherings with unvaccinated individuals. Follow the safety tips from the CDC and the NJ Department of Health to protect yourself and avoid putting your loved ones at risk...

Dean B. Kazinci

Township Manager

~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Please read the full Press Release here

Teaneck Library Services and Schedule have been altered due to COVID: See updated schedule

SEE THE SCHEDULE

Council Meeting Regular

Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at 8:00pm.

Zoom Link passcode 606676

Full Agenda available

Issues to be addressed with Council may include -

Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 8:00pm

Zoom webinar. This meeting will be held virtually only!

Please click the link to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86035821195.

Public comment can only be made if you attend the meeting via the Zoom app. Instructions on how to download the Zoom app can be found on the district website at www.teaneckschools.org

Thursday, January 6, 2022 at 7:00pm

neither the zoom link nor agenda were available at press time.

Note: No information about the agenda for this meeting has been published by the Town. But, if the Board of Adjustment’s previously announced hearings scheduled for this 1/6 meeting are actually conducted, then the Board will hear continuations of two applications which seek approval of site plans for multi-story, multi-family rental facilities on properties which do not permit such uses. Therefore, they must survive the strenuous D1 variance tests to warrant Board approval.

(See article above TWO PROPOSALS NOW BEFORE THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT)

The Board will not have the help of recommendations on these plans from the Town’s Site Plan Review Advisory Board because the Council has not appointed any of the 9 members of this Board (which is required by our Town Code) since prior member appointments ended in 2016. In sum, the Code-required Board does not exist.

Events at the Library: Click here