A redevelopment project with a tortured history last week encountered a little more trauma, in the form of brickbats from the Morristown planning board.
Board members said renderings of brick colors don’t match what the developer promised.
So they withheld a final approval needed for completion of the half-finished 85-unit apartment building at 171-175 Morris Street.
Evidently, Ebonite is a pale imitation of Chelsea Iron. And Navajo Red is no substitute for Cordovan.
“Navajo is so monochromatic, it cheapens the whole thing,” board Chairman Joe Stanley said at Thursday’s Zoom session. “I would never, ever vote to approve it.”
Noting that 14 units of special needs housing are riding on this approval, project Attorney Frank Vitolo requested a conditional vote, to keep the project moving while his team scrambles to find appropriate shades of brick.
“They don’t have that color anymore,” Vitolo said, blaming a supply chain issue: The acquisition of one brick vendor (Sioux City Brick) by another (the Glen-Gery Corp.).
But Stanley said a conditional okay would deprive the board of leverage “to ensure the town gets this right,” on a project he thinks could be a “tremendous asset” for Morristown.
Mayor Tim Dougherty, a board member, concurred. Citing “ad nauseum” meetings spent hammering out a “stunning” design, he cautioned that a partial approval now could spell litigation later if Hampshire Realty cannot deliver that design.
He insisted project architect Frank Minervini should return with full renderings of color changes for the board’s review.
“We’re going to have to see it in its entirety, not just a brick panel,” Dougherty said.
Tentatively, that will happen at a special virtual meeting on May 11, 2022. Vitolo pledged to placate the board, to nail down approval of an amended version of the original site plan that reflects the cosmetic changes.
“We’re not going to build a building you guys don’t like, or that’s not like the colors we agreed to…we have to work a little harder to get back to the color you want,” the lawyer said during the Zoom session.
It’s the latest twist in a decade-long saga for this former oil company depot near Ridgedale Avenue.
Zoned for redevelopment in 2012, it seemed destined to become a self-storage facility. But vociferous opposition beat back that pitch.
A 2018 proposal for apartments– first dubbed “The LW,” for “Live/Work,” later called The Revolution– was approved in 2019.
Citing pandemic spikes in construction costs, the developers then insisted they would scrap the project unless they got a controversial tax break called a PILOT (“Payments in Lieu of Taxes.”)
They got their PILOT. The town got a pledge for 14 units of on-site housing for special needs residents.
All of this new construction is so cheap, engineered to fail. Just what the town needs – overpriced, low quality housing for transient residents. Nevermind all the empty units where the landlords simply hope people will decide $3K for a 1 bedroom is “normal”.
Amazing how we no longer require firewalls between units. And so close to the street – not only will you hear all your neighbors, you’ll hear all the traffic and weekend partygoer noise. And if there’s a fire, well you might get out since I assume/hope sprinklers are required when there’s no firewalls, but say goodbye to all your possessions. But hey, at least the towns electeds and their real estate pals are happy…
Mr. Bobrow’s architectural desires are not in step with what the consumer/retailer/landlord wants. Unless a Town is fully committed to regulating all construction, building designs and appearances, the “colonial” idea will not work.
Just look at Chester. Their downtown could not exist without drastic changes to what was going to be permissible to build.
Morristown’s popularity as a destination to live, visit or patronize merchants is not based on the look of colonial architecture. The sooner residents, politicians and critics realize this, the better off we all will be to move forward.
Its already happening with success, just look around Morristown.
I think you’re stuck in the past. I think Mprristown is moving on from the ol’ colonial stuff. I hope so, anyway. Thankfully I don’t see much “colonial” with the new construction all over town.
I thought Morristown was a colonial town. The architect on this project seemed to skip the class on Federal or even Greek Revival and replaced it with early cookie cutter, aka Hoboken. If I wanted a cookie cutter house I’d live somewhere else. This isn’t as ugly as headquarters plaza but it’s pretty close. Way to go colonial Morristown !!