Morristown planning board members don’t get paid. They don’t get weekends off, either.
At least, not the weekend of March 28, 2020.
The board has scheduled a rare Saturday meeting, with a 9 a.m. start, to review the site plan for M Station, the office redevelopment poised to replace the Midtown Shopping Center on Morris Street.
That gathering is in addition to M Station evening meetings set for March 5, March 11, and March 26, with more in April if necessary. The board hashed out this schedule on Thursday.
It also gave its blessing to a pending town council ordinance restricting Airbnb-type short-term rentals.
The M Station urgency is because the project’s anchor tenant, the Big Four accounting firm Deloitte, has given developers an April deadline to nail down site plan approval from the board, according to board Chairman Joseph Stanley.
“We’re not going to rush through it. We’re just going to compress it,” Stanley said.
The town council, serving at Morristown’s redevelopment agency, okayed M Station last October. Planning board approval of the site plan is one of the final hurdles before construction can start.
Project proponents say M Station will bring jobs, tax revenues and “walking wallets” for downtown businesses. The project calls for nearly 400,000 square feet of offices and ground-floor retail, in two multi-story buildings; a five-floor parking deck; a pair of plazas; a tree-lined promenade; and a traffic “roundabout” at the intersection of Morris and Spring streets.
Opponents are lamenting the loss of free parking and affordable restaurants. Shopping center tenants must vacate by the end of March.
Earlier this month, the council authorized an agreement giving the planning board enhanced powers to mandate off-site improvements, including traffic fixes related to the proposed roundabout.
Frank Vitolo, attorney for the developers, said the planning board sessions are likely to follow this sequence: Civil engineering, parking and traffic, landscaping, architecture and lastly, planning, which will address a pair of changes to a retaining wall.
Vitolo said he anticipates calling five- to seven experts to testify.
Separately, after a brief discussion led by council liaison Stefan Armington and town Planner Phil Abramson, the board determined that a pending ordinance limiting short-term rentals does not conflict with the town’s zoning master plan.
The measure restricts short-term rentals to the “town core” zone–essentially, the downtown–and establishes licensing procedures and other regulations to prevent a recurrence of “Animal House situations” that have arisen in a couple of neighborhoods, Abramson said.
Board members were unanimous except for Joseph Kane, who abstained. He expressed concerns that the measure might be overly restrictive.
The council may adopt the ordinance on March 10.
And for your demographics claim, if you want to see how companies are moving toward smaller, urban HQ’s, do a simple google search on it and read countless articles of company after company moving to urban centers in order to attract younger talent to their companies who want to be able to live in, bike/walk to work, and enjoy good restaurants, bars, entertainment, and nightlife scene in one spot. This is truly easy stuff to find hard evidence for. Yikes
@mtwngirl Im not talking about the economics of the developer…I’m talking about basic economic principles that drive people behaviors and their investments…
And I insulted no one. Don’t make things up.
@ Mtwngirl – LOL, yea I’m the one with no good response. What insult did I give to a person? Proving ideas wrong aren’t an insult. Please tell me where I insulted someone.
And I’m not talking about economics of the developer. I’m talking about economics of the entire situation. You and others constantly say no one wants all this development, yet the town in booming with more and more people, like myself, moving or wanting to move into town as evidenced by the rising real estate values and constantly filled restaurants, bars and stores. You, Charles, and Margret offer no explanation as to why this is happening and cant acknowledge the simple notion that people simply enjoy all of this development and energy being brought into the downtown.
If we wait years, Deloitte and others will have a new home somewhere else. Government bureaucracy is not what the private real estate industry needs more of.
Also, for plenty of evidence, let me help you with a simple Google search of companies wanting to move into urban downtown to attract younger demographics in the workplace. Let me know if the below is enough. If not I can provide you another 20 pretty quickly.
https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/office/8-companies-that-have-relocated-expanded-offices-in-pursuit-of-young-talent-70823
https://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-urban-downtown-economic-development.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/business/economy/why-corporate-america-is-leaving-the-suburbs-for-the-city.html
https://njbmagazine.com/njb-news-now/companies-move-new-jersey/
Ahh, Connor…when you have no good response, resort to insulting people. There is a lot more to development than the economics of the developer. You implied to know the demographics of Deloitte and who would be moving into town, I asked for the info you had insight on, you responded with nothing. My comment was simply, why are they getting preferential treatment because they prematurely signed a lease that the Planning Board now needs to provide special treatment for. I asked about the traffic study..again, you responded with no valid information. They have not provided a traffic study as part of the application yet. It is not Morristown’s professionals that are responsible to validate a traffic circle, that burden falls on the applicant…or, at least it should. Large scale projects like this can take years to get approval, to be thoroughly vetted by the approving agencies. It should not be fast tracked within a few weeks. No one wins with quick and sloppy…
Without going into the merits of the development, pro or con, I have seen very little commentary on the merits of the roundabout, which seems to have become accepted as part of the project. The Morris/Spring intersection is heavily trafficked, both by automobiles and pedestrians, and I have not seen a reasoned discussion of why a roundabout would improve traffic.
The doom and gloom crowd is out and about. And environmental racism – that’s a new one.
@Kelly M – what specific suggestions do you have to improve the plan? If it is your goal to completely quash this project and others like it in town, then say so. Tell us how you do not want Deloitte in town and how there shouldn’t be any more development. Your’re complaining, like Charles, does nothing to help anyone. Its quite easy to just sit here and complain about every detail, like most people do on HOAs, without offering any productive ideas in return.
Exhibit A, @ Charles, do you know that “overpriced” rental building on Ridgedale is losing money? As an investor, why would they then invest in another similar building in that area if it was?
Its funny how all the complainers will not admit that most people like and are attracted to all of this development, otherwise rents and home prices wouldn’t rise the way they have been and continue to do so. Restaurants and bars wouldn’t be constantly filled. Not one of these people can explain this concept because of their basic lack of economic understanding. Exhibit B @mtwngirl had no idea things get leased before they are built. Exhibit C @Charles, did you ever get back to us on what rents should specifically be set at?
This project will happen, folks.
I was talking about the shops to the side of that, no the brake place– which is also available (you can always add those things..)…
@Kelly M – I don’t think you understand what food deserts or environmental racism are. I’m not a fan of this project as it is proposed, but I don’t think it helps opponents of the project to make these disingenuous, virtue signalling claims.
Also property searches are fun – I can see it looks like Scotto will be trying to do something on Ridgedale next to the BP and across from the empty/overpriced rentals. They just paid $4M+ for a small residential parcel that was converted to commercial, and their LLCs (3-13 RIDGEDALE AVENUE, LLC & 3-7 RIDGEDALE AVE PARTNERS LLC) sort of indicate how much of Ridgedale they’re looking to acquire (great place to add more traffic!).
@Lorena – What was the story with Cy’s Brakes vs. the Diner? That old parking situation was so crazy, and there was clearly some war there between the diner and Cy’s, what is that about?
Also Cy’s is another great example of a (small) piece of prime realty left to rot, with the owner I suppose just hoping for some giant development that will allow them to cash out. What is the history on that propery?
@Jeff B- The better question is, what has the town and or developer done to prove it won’t? The back of Scottos Property is one of the steepest slopes in Morristown and leads to the Whippany River watershed. Its already deemed a flood zone, why don’t you think the town has not developed there? But because its been designated “an area in need” a dozen years ago, the developer doesn’t have to comply with the environmental protection guidelines. That makes a lot of sense!
@Matt…the abandoned Cy Brakes building doesn’t have plumbing…it would require a lot of construction and permit$ to bring it into code. It’s been an abandoned rat traps for years with broken windows and doors. Became a haven for homeless. It just got spruced up in the last year. 🤔 Take one guess who owns it….yes SJP properties.
Someone has started a petition, feel free to sign (with your real name):
http://chng.it/tvVjMXFJt7
Guess who’s out of a job come 2021?
Foster, Elms, Silva…and Dougherty too, if he’s not already in jail by then.
Eliminating important steep slope requirements, anywhere in Morristown, is foolhardy, given its topography and varied soil conditions. I’ve been holding my breathe as the steep slopes abutting the historic graveyard behind the Presbyterian Church on the Green began to erode during the construction of the project opposite the M Station proposal on Spring St.
Kelly M what studies have you done to show that there will be greater risk of flooding? Are you a civil engineer? LOL
@Lorena
There are some empty spaces directly across the street next to the diner
@JT where are they going to relocate within walking distance?
It’s a shame that a landlord who has a history of neglected property is given a green light. Just drive up and down Spring Street and look at all his abandoned or neglected properties. The Town should’ve enforce ordinances and made that landlord make improvements to that property instead of letting it go to hell and be able to eradicate that whole business area now on the basis of its appearance. This will be another Headquarters Plaza disaster.
The hundreds of people working in these buildings will need places within walking distance to eat lunch, so these affordable eateries would be well served to set up shop close by. Office workers eat as much fast food, pizza and wings as anyone else. I don’t buy the food desert argument.
Kelly M LOL!
Don’t stop!
lol @ Kelly – You don’t even have a point there worth a discussion over. Yikes
Lets get it startedddd
The town’s largest development project in over 30 years, the last one being HQPlaza also in the 2nd Ward, will foster a food desert for Morristown’s 2nd Ward residents by displacing Morristown’s affordable eateries and will also place these residents at greater risk of flooding hazards due to a steep gradient, which would typically put an end to this project if not for an “Area in Need of Redevelopment” ordinance passed at least 12 years ago #ENVIRONMENTALRACISM
Let’s do this! Wisely, but quickly