Developer Plans New Hillsdale Apartment Building

Another developer has submitted plans to build a new apartment building near downtown Hillsdale.

Jeanne Marie Associates has proposed to build a three-story, 57-unit apartment building on Patterson Street next to the PSE&G substation. The property is currently unoccupied.

Residents who live near the site have already expressed concern about the plan. Manson Place resident Marisa Cefali was one of a group of neighbors who asked the Hillsdale Planning Board about potentially objecting to the application this week.

"An apartment building of that magnitude ... it's just not needed," Cefali said.

Cefali said she was concerned about the amount of additional traffic the apartments would bring to the area.

Also, the Pascack Brook passes by the rear side of the site. Cefali said she expected the project could worse flooding along downstream because the property already frequently floods, she said.

"The number of times this property has flooded is unbelievable," Cefali said.

The site is slightly more than 8 acres, though a portion of the property is cannot be built on because it is protected wetland. The plans do not call for any construction on that piece of land.

"It's just not the proper place for it," Cefali said.

Jeanne Marie Associates is listed at a P.O. Box in Woodcliff Lake, but they have another apartment complex nearby in Nanuet, N.Y.

Another applicant had recently proposed to build a 36-unit apartment building on Orchard Street. The Hillsdale Planning Board unanimously rejected that plan in September. Board members cited traffic concerns with that site, which is located between Broadway and the railroad.

The board will begin hearing this new application at their February 13 meeting.

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