Significance of Changes, Not Flooding, At Issue in Development Hearing

Officials won't consider neighbors' concerns about flooding during a hearing for a 37-home development on the border of Hillsdale and Washington Township.

Caliber Builders, Inc. plans to build an age-restricted development on a wooded Ell Road property, just off Pascack Road. The Hillsdale Planning Board gave them preliminary approval in 2008 and, after several years in court, they are now seeking a final approval.

The flooding issue has already been dealt with in depth during previous hearings, board attorney Harold Ritvo said.

"This is not a retrial of the water issue," Ritvo said.

For a final approval, the board only considers whether any "substantial changes" have been made to the plans and whether the applicant has failed to obey any board conditions.

"This is not a do-over," Caliber's attorney, Russell Huntington, said. "It should not be another shot at the applicant."

The potential flooding issue has been a driving force behind the objections of the Northgate Condominium Association, members previously said.

"We already have a lot of water and we don't want to be inundated," Northgate Condominium Association President Bob Malone previously told Patch.

Engineer Alex Zepponi said last week that the discharge of water would be reduced and "vastly improved" by the plans.

The changes to the plans will now be the key issue examined by the board.

John Lamb, the attorney representing the Northgate Condominium Association, said that the changes made to the plan were substantial enough that the board should require Caliber to seek an amended approval. An amended application would basically require the board to hear testimony about the whole project again and would potentially open up the flood issue for discussion.

Zepponi testified that there had been some minor tweaks made as the plan went before state and county officials for review. The proposed road and houses were still in the same spots, and their footprints were the same, he said.

Regardless of which type of approval the application needs, a small part of the plan will need further approval from Washington Township officials. The plans call for the majority of work to be on the Hillsdale side of the border, but a drainage pipe and retaining wall both extend across the town line, according to Zepponi. 

If they do not receive approval from the township, they could cut the drainage pipe and retaining wall at the town line, Zepponi said.