Council: New Crossroads Mall Ordinance Will Be Adopted "As Quickly As Possible"
Residents will see a non-binding referendum asking their feelings on a retail development on the November ballot
The township will be voting, in a non-binding referendum, on whether or not it wants to see a shopping center developed on the Crossroads property on the corner of Routes 17 and 287.
In addition, the township attorney John Conte Thursday night determined Ordinance 1698, which was introduced by the Council last week, was worded properly, so it will now head to the township’s planning board for review. 1698, if adopted, would repeal the three ordinances – 1684, 1686, and 1687 – that would allow for the retail center to be developed.
To the over 170 residents in the crowd, the council stressed that they will move to adopt the ordinance “as quickly as humanly possible,” but that state statutes outline certain time elements that must be adhered to.
Taking into account the notices that must be made to the public, property owner, and adjacent property owners, the earliest the town council would be able to adopt the new ordinance would be September 1, they said. However, that is dependent upon the actions of the planning board.
The agenda for the planning board’s next meeting, which is scheduled for Monday night, August 22, should be amended to include the consideration of the new ordinance, according to planning board member and liaison to the council, Councilman Chuck Jandris. The PB legally has 35 days to review the ordinance, and submit its review to the council.
The council approved a special meeting for September 1, assuming that the Planning Board returns a favorable review after Monday’s meeting. The scheduling would likely change should the planning board take longer to review the ordinance, the council said.
The town council Thursday night also approved a referendum which it must deliver to the county clerk’s office by 10 a.m. Friday in order for it to appear on the November ballot.
After some debate about what exactly the language of the referendum should be, the council decided upon: “Should the Crossroads property (lot and block specified) be rezoned primarily as retail/mall – yes or no?”
Council members Lisa DiGiulio, Roy Larsen, Harry Williams, Chuck Jandris, John Roth, and Mayor DaPuzzo all expressed concerns that the wording used should be simple.
“We don’t want to have any interpretation issues,” Jandris said.
All council members, save Sam Alderisio, voted for placing the question on the ballot, which marked a change in vote for Council President John Roth.
“I have in the past, and do now support the Crossroads,” but due to the “number of people who have come forward in support of the referendum,” and “in an effort to end the divisiveness over this issue in the town, I am voting yes,” Roth said.
A number of residents and members of the Committee to Stop Mahwah Mall, an activist group suing the township over the potential development of the mall, expressed their gratitude to the council for responding to their public concerns.
Residents also brought up concerns that the Crossroads developer might file a site plan before the required process for adoption is completed, rendering the ordinance change moot.
According to Conte, the developer likewise has requirements to meet in order to submit a completed site plan.
“Often times, subsequent documents are required after the initial submission,” Conte said.
Residents in attendance expressed their appreciation for the chance to share their opinions on the project at the ballot box.
Though many Stop Mahwah Mall supporters shared their opinions, several residents voiced their support for the mall, a novelty at recent council meetings.
“I’m in support of this mall,” said resident Tracy Mitchelli.
“And I am glad that my neighbors are coming out to voice their opinions, but a lot of my neighbors want a mall.”
Another resident who identified herself as a professional planner, though not one that worked in Mahwah, said she was “disappointed” that the council was moving to repeal its previous decision on the mall’s development.
“I hadn’t come to the meetings because I was happy with the decision you made,” she said.
Bergen County Freeholder Robert Hermansen, a Mahwah resident and former Mahwah councilman, told the council of his concerns that the township’s “divisiveness” over the Crossroads development might lead to the “clouding” of other issues facing the town.
The upcoming mayoral election, he said, “should go back to focusing on what’s best for the people of Mahwah.”
Hermansen has endorsed Mayor DaPuzzo on DaPuzzo’s campaign website in the upcoming election, which pits the current appointed mayor against Councilwoman DiGiulio and Mahwah Sunoco owner Bill Laforet.
Many residents have expressed that the Crossroads mall issue will be an important factor when casting votes in November.
resident
11:38 am on Friday, August 19, 2011
What part of town do the pro mall residents live in? Please come to West Mahwah and see for yourself the impact the mall will have on our quiet little middle class neighborhood . As for the proffessional planner - well that is her bread and butter so of course she would be in favor of a huge mall that will distroy the small neighborhoods surrounding it. I am sure her salary is very high. Research the salary of the average family in West Mahwah. Her the voice of the people not the big corporations. America is all about the big money yet the middle class gets stepped more and more. Most people just want a movie theater. Why not build a movie theater in Mahwah. THERE IS PLENTY OF VACANT RETAIL SPACE AVAILABLE. Do we really want another Nanuet Mall. Please let the township follow the voice of the people who are opposed. The number opposed out ways the number who are for it. That is the Democratic way. If the pro mall citizens want the mall then they should organize and fight the fight like the Committee to Stop Mall. The town council is doing everything thing they can to straighten out this big mess. I am sure times are hard for them and especially the poor town clerk who has all the weight on her shoulders to get everything in writting and delivered on time. Big thanks to the town clerk.
John Camlic
12:25 pm on Sunday, August 21, 2011
Pro Mall citizens? What prop mall citizens? (looking around, seeing no one... crickets chirping).
Average Joe
2:51 pm on Friday, August 26, 2011
Yes, you make it clear in your "writting" that you do not want the big scary mall to "distroy" your small neighborhood.
John Camlic
1:57 am on Saturday, August 20, 2011
The article said "several" residents voiced their support for the mall. That statement is inaccurate and misleading. There were a total of "two." There was also a freeholder there that was there to campaign for Dapuzzo. It fell on deaf ears. Dapuzzo is going down in November.
James
11:57 am on Sunday, August 21, 2011
John- Who do you support for Mayor? I think Billy Sunoco and Lisa DiGuillio supported the mall before it became politically incorrect.
LHart
8:29 am on Saturday, August 20, 2011
The pebble is back in Mahwah's shoe! Mr. Mosbey, not his real name, has not been around and it was getting a little more civil. He was probably off writing Big Oil Bill's (alias Mahwah Business Man sans Sunoco) low road nasty ad for the newspapers last week. Really sad, candidate in search of an issue. Needs to attack people to get attention, make accusations but no proof. He forgets he told a lot of people he was in favor of the Crossroads and poof now he's not. Just what we need more nastiness in Mahwah.
John Camlic
9:57 am on Monday, August 29, 2011
Who do I support for Mayor? At this point, DiGuillio. Yes, she was *for* it three years ago. I do recall that. But, she's against it now, so it's the lesser of the evils running. If there is a fourth candidate, I may consder them.
James
11:45 am on Sunday, August 21, 2011
Can the owner file a law suit to "help" Mahwah comply with its State imposed affordable housing requirements and go to Court to get approval to build well over 1,000 affordable housing units on that property, along with hundreds of regular priced dwelling units? If that happens, "the people" may have no say with regard to what goes on that property and the mall may very well be the lesser of all evils. Weren't Lisa DiGulio and Bill Laforet advocates of the mall until it became politically incorrect? I think Billy and Lisa may be playing a tune for crowd to try to trick people into supporting them. At least John DaPuzzo is honest!
John Camlic
9:59 am on Monday, August 29, 2011
Ain't gonna happen James. Stop trying to scare people into the mall. There will not be affordable housing built there. Is your name Dapuzzo, by chance? He'll never be elected mayor. He's been hostile towards the people of Mahwah. We don't appreciate being "talked down to" like villiage idiots by him.
James
12:12 pm on Sunday, August 21, 2011
Can the owner file a law suit to "help" Mahwah comply with its State imposed affordable housing requirements and go to Court to get approval to build well over 1,000 affordable housing units on that property, along with hundreds of regular priced dwelling units? If that happens, "the people" may have no say with regard to what goes on that property and the mall may very well be the lesser of all evils. Weren't Lisa DiGulio and Bill Laforet advocates of the mall until it became politically incorrect? I think Billy and Lisa may be playing a tune for crowd to try to trick people into supporting them. At least John DaPuzzo is honest!
James
4:06 pm on Sunday, August 21, 2011
How much money does it cost to sensor patch? It looks like it is a "paid for" service. I wonder if a Mayoral candidate pays extra for editorial content?
LHart
5:59 pm on Sunday, August 21, 2011
Reposting, censored first time. Big Oil Bill, sorry candidate in search of an issue. Told a lot of people he supported Crossroads and poof now he’s not. Needs to attack to get attention. Wild accusations no proof! Just what Mahwah needs more nastiness!
Tom Troncone
7:22 pm on Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Good evening everyone. I just want to state for the record that we never remove a comment unless it violates our terms of service. There is, however, a sort of public moderation on our sites, where if enough people flag a comment, it gets removed and sent to a moderation queue for us to review.
Once it is there, we have the ability to reset the "flag count" to zero and the comment reappears. Jessica is on (a much deserved) vacation this week, so I just went into that queue and unflagged several comments that were deemed inappropriate by users but which do not, in fact, violate our terms of service. They should reappear on the site soon.
I'd ask that you acquaint yourself with the commenting terms of use, which can be found linked on the bottom of this page. Again, we did not remove any of these comments, they were removed by the "flagging" action of users.
LHart
8:00 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
This statement simply NOT true. No negative Laforet posting re-posted. 2 postings pulled down yesterday because of negative references to Bill laforet. Yet postings where people call others twits, clowns and all manner of ill will toward our governor remain. If a group of person gets organized and flags every comment they don't want as inappropriate that is censorship and since Patch claims to reveiw it they permit it.
My friends are calling every advertiser on Patch about this, hope they withdraw. Bet this post gets pulled within the hour.
Tom Troncone
8:46 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
I'm not sure how much clearer I can make it, LHart. We do not pull down any posts ourselves, users do. Once a post is flagged inappropriate a certain number of times, it is taken down by the system. I just went into the moderation queue and, yes, there are several comments that were flagged (including the one you just made). I'll reset the flag count where appropriate, but please try to be fair. None of us can spend our entire day waiting for comments to disappear.
James
8:55 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
This is Big-Oil-Bill's campaign page! Pay for a goofy add with a misprint: Like what company is "Triple AAA". Duh! It's "Triple A" or "AAA". I guess Willy did not do good in the second grade! And this guy is running for Mayor? He does not even know where he was born! Is he a life-long Mahwah resident or a naturlized citizen? He just makes it up as he goes along!
James
9:33 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
At what point does a user get cut off for "objecting" too much to political commentary? It seems like Big-Oil-Bill Laforet's crew removes posts that do not hold Gas-Pump-Willy up as being the dapper prince that he thinks he is.
Tom Troncone
9:46 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
James, that's a fair question. But we don't take suspending a user lightly. We have to understand that this is a very emotional issue for a lot of people, who get pretty fired up about it. Dialogue in a community is so very important, even unpopular dialogue.
Do public officials need to have thick skins? Absolutely. It's part of public life. So do journalists. I've been doing this a long time, and I know that no matter what you write, someone won't like it. And they will think that you are biased in some way.
All I can really say is that Patch takes absolutely no political positions. We aim to be a neutral party that simply puts a mirror up to the community. It's why you don't see editorials on our sites. We simply do not take a position. The only thing that guides our decisions are news value, fairness and (in this case) our terms of service.
Feel free to send me an email at tom.troncone@patch.com if you ever have any concerns or questions.
Tom Troncone
9:47 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
Here is the relevant portion of our terms of service:
* is defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane or offensive;
* infringes or violates another party's intellectual property rights (such as music, videos, photos or other materials for which you do not have written authority from the owner of such materials to post on the Service);
* violates any party’s right of publicity or right of privacy;
* is threatening, harassing or that promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
* promotes or encourages violence;
* is inaccurate, false or misleading in any way;
* is illegal or promotes any illegal activities;
* promotes illegal or unauthorized copying of another person's copyrighted work or links to them or providing information to circumvent security measures;
* contains “masked” profanity (e.g., F@&#)
* contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; or
* contains any advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation.
Instead of trying to memorize all that, you might boil it down to three main policies: “Keep it clean,” “Don’t try to trick people,” and “Treat others as you’d like to be treated.”
James
9:56 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
Thanks Mr. Troncone! I'll try to stay within the bounds! But, it does seem that Billy LaForet's team may be deleting anti-Billy posts while enjoying the ability to trick people into thinking he is an honest and viable candidate. You offer a tremendous "product"! Have a great day and be safe this weekend with the storm.
James
12:01 pm on Friday, August 26, 2011
Mr. Troncone- I am really surprised at the rapid rate "Team LaForet" or "Friends of Bill" may be removing posts. Those acts serve to make the Patch a lot less well rounded of a place for the free exchange of thoughts and ideas and may very well serve to trick voters into supporting a person not at all qualified to be in public office. It is pretty disgusting.
James
2:31 pm on Friday, August 26, 2011
Mr. Troncone- I guess messages to you may also be offensive to Gas-Pump Willy, as that was also taken down. It is really insane that Patch can potentially be hijacked by a political campaign.
Winston Mann
12:16 pm on Thursday, August 25, 2011
Meg.....you need to stop being a "twit". You are just like some of the people that fought the Pilot...Argue till your blue in the face, then GO SHOPPING THERE. It hurts our ears to hear you at council meetings. Please, for the "People", stop your rants. Thank You. W.
resident
2:51 pm on Thursday, August 25, 2011
Winston - how dare you call me a twit! I can't afford to shop at the mall! Who are you and be man enough to call me a twit to my face. I think the nasty names are going toward the wrong person Winston. Thanks for your comment. I don't shop at Pilot. Rescent poll of top towns in NJ to live Mahwah ranked 92.
John Camlic
10:02 am on Monday, August 29, 2011
When an animal is cornered, they bite. Meg, ignore Winston. He knows he's wrong about the mall.. so he's resorted to name calling.
The people of Mahwah appreciate your efforts, Meg! Keep up the great work.
Winston Mann
4:56 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
Meg. What does Mahwah being ranked #92 have to do with this ? Please fill us in. Also, please dont try to have a pitty party because you, and i quote, "Can't afford to shop at the mall". There are people who can and would enjoy having something this close to us. Where were you, ( and dont say you were because i was), but where where you for the last 2 years when the council was meeting on this ??? You and your fellow "whackos" decide to band together, because nothing is better on t.v, and make a mockery out of this whole thing !!! I hope you guys get your way, THEN I HOPE THE DEVELOPER SHOVES IT RIGHT DOWN YOUR THROATS.....maybe he will put up 1,000 affordable units and 5,000 regular units... then our kids will really be packed in like rats when they go to school.....or maybe the Indians will put a casino in, THERE GOES OUR TAX REVENUE......or maybe he will sell it to some corporation so they can put up ANOTHER HOTEL.......use your head...yes, there will be traffic, BUT THERE ALREADY IS !!! Other than that, NOTHING......By the way.....as of today.....NO MAJOR INCIDENTS HAVE TAKEN PLACE AT THE PILOT TRUCK STOP........LIKE YOU GUYS PROMISED !!!!!! laughable.
Average Joe
2:48 pm on Friday, August 26, 2011
Finally someone steps up and calls these NIMBY mall-haters out for their nonsense. Got you good Meg.
John Camlic
10:04 am on Monday, August 29, 2011
Name calling? Clearly you have no rational argument, and instead, violate the terms of service.
John Camlic
10:05 am on Monday, August 29, 2011
No, he didn't get "Meg good." Both you and "Winston" are making fools out of yourselves by name calling and not being able to supply a single rational argument. Casinos, (rolling eyes) yeah, like THAT'S ever going to happen.