Joe Stanley is the Morristown planning board chairman. But on Wednesday night, he looked and sounded more like a referee.
“Both of you, stop bickering…at this time of night, my patience runs very thin,” he admonished opposing attorneys Frank Vitolo and Tom Jardim, about three hours into the sixth virtual meeting for a proposed 39-unit luxury apartment/retail project at 126-136 South St.
The exchange capped an evening of tough questions for the developers, who had hoped this special session would culminate in a vote on their application. Instead, they were grilled about shared parking spaces, driveway turnarounds, and pedestrian safety, on a project the town planner likened to Jurassic Park.
Things heated up when Jardim, lawyer for an objector from the neighboring Vail Mansion, poked at the credentials of an expert witness.
Chris Richter, testifying as an engineer and planner, acknowledged he also is a principal for the developers. He denied that job title at first, but Jardim reminded him that his LinkedIn page lists him as a principal with Senlac Partners, whose founders have a piece of the project.
“As a licensed engineer are you permitted to have a financial interest in some application in which you are testifying as an expert?” Jardim asked.
Richter insisted he has no financial interest in the project. When Jardim pressed further, Vitolo, the project’s lawyer, objected.
Courtroom drama at the planning board, Oct. 13, 2021. Video screengrab by Kevin Coughlin for MorristownGreen.com. (Please excuse the keyboard cacophony.)
“I’ve been doing trial law for 20 years, Tom. You’re asking him, ‘Are you permitted?’ That is a legal conclusion. And that’s not to be answered by an expert witness. You’re asking a legal question,” Vitolo said.
Board Attorney Lisa John-Basta overruled Vitolo, saying a licensed professional should be familiar with ethics rules related to the profession. Jardim then resumed his inquiries. Vitolo cut him off, imposing a gag order on Richter.
“I instruct you not to answer the question, to give a legal opinion. I instruct you not to do that, and you guys (the board) can take me up on appeal,” Vitolo said.
JURASSIC PARK ON SOUTH?
The meeting almost didn’t happen. Mayor Tim Dougherty canceled evening plans so the board would have a quorum. He didn’t mince words with Richter.
“Isn’t the idea to make something better and not make…the situation worse?” Dougherty asked, questioning a proposed two-way driveway onto busy South Street.
A pair of driveways will be improvements, Richter responded.
If the board rejects the project, Richter said, the developers will solicit tenants for Susi’s Salon and a law office, both vacant now. That will generate traffic on an existing driveway he characterized as unsafe.
‘Stop bickering!’ Board chair asks civil lawyers to act that way, Morristown planning board, Oct. 13, 2021. Video screen grab by Kevin Coughlin for MorristownGreen.com:
The board also learned that a driveway easement between the developers and the South Street Creamery, portrayed as an all-but-done-deal at an earlier meeting, is not all done.
Throughout the virtual meeting, project experts asserted they have refined project features per board suggestions, to fully comply with town zoning codes.
Project engineer Brad Bohler presented a list of tweaks since the last meeting. Among these: A new turnaround area that can accommodate most cars (K-turns for large SUVs); a wider (eight-foot )sidewalk at 136 South St.; reduced square footage for the retail space, yielding an extra parking space; a nine-foot clearance bar at the driveway entrance; and a flashing LED “Car” sign and voice alert warning pedestrians of exiting vehicles.
Also added: An illuminated STOP sign, a “Nothing Over 9 Feet” sign, an “Employees Only” parking sign, and “No Parking” signage for a loading zone for morning retail deliveries.
When Bohler acknowledged the ground-level parking is designed for cars, not delivery vehicles, town engineer Charles Carley pushed back.
A nine-foot entry clearance won’t be high enough to accommodate ambulances, Carley intimated. If he were a tenant having a heart attack, and parking along South Street was crowded, he asked, how far would EMTs have to drag him to an ambulance?
The developers have done their best to satisfy board concerns, Vitolo said, but they cannot anticipate every possible situation. A turnaround was added at a board member’s recommendation, to accommodate passenger dropoffs by Uber and Lyft, he noted.
“In my experience, it’s an amenity that…most buildings in Morristown don’t offer,” the attorney said, emphasizing, “This is not a driveway for all purposes….we certainly can’t accommodate all kinds of vehicles. It’s a private garage.”
The board questioned plans for the LED sign, intended to warn pedestrians when cars are exiting. Vitolo said the developers are happy to provide whatever the board considers appropriate. “We care about safety, too,” he said.
Plans also call for apartment dwellers and commercial tenants to share the parking lot during business hours. Specifically, retailers would have a dozen spaces until 6 pm — when their leases would require them to remove their cars.
How would this be enforced, when a tow truck probably couldn’t squeeze through the entrance, someone asked? Richter explained that a key card entry system will enable building managers to monitor parking electronically and nudge people when it’s time to leave.
That won’t be practical if the commercial tenants are lawyers; their work day seldom ends at 6 pm, Jardim said.
Richter predicted plenty of snowbirds will leave the apartments, freeing up parking in winter months.
“We want to …introduce a little bit of practical common sense to managing the garage,” he told Jardim. “I understand your concerns and your questions. But the technology exists. We will be successful.”
The one-acre site is zoned for 30 units. The developers seek a “density bonus” that grants up to 10 more apartments if they shave the property to under one acre. It’s a town zoning quirk meant to encourage downtown development.
Ultimately, the project may hinge on whether the state Department of Transportation accepts a wedge of lawn as a gift.
Wouldn’t the driveways and parking be simpler if the developers simply reduced the project’s scope, board member Susan Glover wanted to know?
“Is there a way to do this differently if the building’s removed, or is this the only opportunity for development of this site?” she asked. Bohler, the project engineer, told her the driveway complies with town and state codes.
Town Planner Phil Abramson paraphrased a line from Jurassic Park, a movie about elaborate plans that go horribly wrong.
“You spend so much time wondering if you could. You haven’t stopped to ask yourself if you should,” he said, during a discussion about the courtyard of the L-shaped project.
The cast returns in December for Zoom hearing number seven. Jardim will present the objector’s case. Lay in plenty of popcorn. It should be quite a show.
MORE ABOUT 126-136 SOUTH STREET
They should have been around in the late 80’s and early 90’s for the Town Council “Friday night fights”. THAT was fighting.
Is it standard practice for questions such as shared parking, ambulance access, driveway size and number of driveways to be brought up at a meeting where there is an expectation that the project will be approved? These seem like pretty big items that likely could have or should have been questioned and resolved very early in the process, like at the first meeting.