Board Members 'Insulted' by CVS Planner's Testimony

Members of the Washington Township Zoning Board questioned testimony presented by planner Richard Preiss during a hearing for the proposed CVS on the corner of Pascack Road and Washington Avenue Tuesday night.

Preiss testified about the current conditions at the site and the surrounding properties, highlighting that there are other businesses nearby in the residential zone and that the owner of the proposed CVS site — 660 Pascack Realty, LLC — also owns several of the surrounding properties, thereby minimizing any negative effects the project would have on neighbors, he said.

Several board members disagreed.

"I just disagree fundamentally with your point of view that the greatest impact is to five lots regarding this whole development," Vice Chairman Michael Ullman said. "I think the impact of that development goes through that entire neighborhood and it impacts the entire town."

Changes to the area since the last re-examination of the township's Master Plan in 2006 have made the site no longer suitable for the residential use it is zoned for, Preiss said. He pointed to an increase in traffic through the intersection and a regional decrease in home values, as well as the deteriorating condition of the houses, as reasons why the site would be better used for retail.

"You're faced with a difficult decision that could perhaps not have been anticipated seven years ago," Preiss said.

Ullman called Preiss' testimony "an insult."

"Those homes are atrocious," Ullman said. "I don't know exactly the condition that they started in, but I know since they've been owned by 660 [Pascack], they've gone downhill."

Ullman said he believed the owner had made "a self-inflicted wound" by taking down trees, building a retaining wall and allowing the houses to go without much maintenance.

The board will continue to hear Preiss' testimony at next meeting June 18.

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