My name is Charlie, I live in Mahwah, the reason for this mall in the first place is because of the Mayor John DaPuzzo and 4 members of the town counsel deciding for the town of Mahwah without letting anyone know about it, approve the zoning changes and allow the developer to build a mall. It's easy to blame Governor Christie, but if Mayor Dapuzzo did not approve the mall in the first place Mahwah would not be getting the mall. Mayor John Dapuzzo could of vetoed what the town counsel voted in on March 31st 2011, but instead he approved and signed for the zoning change So you can thank Mayor John DaPuzzo for giving us traffic, crime and flooding in the future. Mahwah needs John DaPuzzo for a mayor like we need a hole in the head.

Again, another objection that says "if you don't want this, what you'll get is far worse" . . . This is not an argument, it is a red herring. No one is proposing high density housing on this site, and no one is proposing millions of square feet of office space. Both would be harsh economic losers, and so are not on any developers' agenda. This is a red herring, just as it was when Councilman Sam Alderisio told the citizens of Mahwah that if we don't take this retail mall, we'll get 'millions of square feet of office space", with economic and environmental consequences far more dire than anything the Mall will cause. It was a red herring then; it's a red herring now. It's also a red herring to suggest that the Mall will instead be replaced by a casino. Again, red herring - just because someone wants to build one for obvious economic reasons - heck, I'd like to build one myself - doesn't mean anyone's ever proposed it. And, are we as citizens of Mahwah not in control of what our town should look like? Just because a statute requires review of the zoning ordinances and master plan years from now, does this mean we cannot visit pertinent issues, and rule on them, in the meantime? Again, red herring.

And for those of us who may have to live with the consequences of these ill-advised actions of the Town Council, election day cannot come too soon.

James, let them put all the housing they want on that property, low income or what have you. As far as taxes, go do you really think once the town realizes they need more police and firemen on duty the Mahwah residents are going to see any tax savings. It would most likely cost the Mahwah residents more in taxes to fund the expense of the mall.

Right now the property is zoned for commercial and hotels, leave it the way it is, commercial would leave at 5:00pm during the week, be closed on the weekends and traffic would be fine. Just because the developer states he can’t make money on building commercial is no reason to shove a mall down Mahwah’s throat, the developer will leave after the mall is built and the Mahwah residents are stuck with the aftermath of the mall. I live in Mahwah, not Paramus, I want to keep it that way.

For all Mahwah residents who are interested, get a hold of a dvd called MegaMall, it is how the Palisades Mall was shoved down the residents throats, sound familiar, was built and how it grew and grew, they were only suppose to be 800 thousand square feet, turned out to be over 3 million square feet. A great case where the mayor and town counsel ignored its resident’s cry’s for no mall. Watch the video, talk about traffic and crime increase, the police have a separate room just for the mall-stolen merchandise, and it is always filled.
rest of comment below

What really rubs me the wrong way is on March 31, 2011, at the town counsel meeting, “I was there” when 400 plus Mahwah residents (standing room only) voiced there concerns on why the mall was not a good idea in Mahwah, and Mayor DaPuzzo and 4 town counsel men ignored everything the Mahwah residents had to say and voted in the zoning changes that night. 1 minute after the Mahwah residents voice their concerns, talk about a slap in the face; I guess Mahwah residents are just in Mahwah to pay taxes and keep our mouths closed. Mahwah does not need a Mayor or a town counsel that does not listen to the people, either they represent the best interests for the Mahwah residents or they don’t. And if they don’t, they don’t need to be in the town counsel chairs.

The only reason the so-called mayor DaPuzzo and the town counsel are listening now is because they have to, thanks for the “Stop Mahwah Mall Committee” if it were not for them the Mahwah residents still would not have a clue about the mall in the first place, because Mayor DaPuzzo and 4 members of the town counsel had no intentions of letting the Mahwah residents know. Do you really think the Mayor really wants to talk about the mall now, he has no choice? As the vote in November so the Mahwah residents can decide weather they want the mall or not you can thank the “Stop Mahwah Mall Committee” again for allowing the Mahwah residents a choice in the matter. The “Stop Mahwah Mall Committee” went out in the heat of the summer with a petition and received over 2000 signatures when all was need were 1500.

Mayor DaPuzzo or the town counsel was not about to offer Mahwah residents a choice, they knew Mahwah residents do not want a mall so they just changed the zoning and snuck it in. I would love to see people for the mall getting 2000 signatures, it would never happen. As a matter of fact at the town counsel meetings there is on one present for the mall. This really blew up in the mayor’s and town counsels faces, they never expected the Mahwah residents to question them, they just thought it would blow over. So yes it bothers me greatly that Mayor DaPuzzo and 4 counsel members tried sneaking the mall in without the Mahwah residents knowing about it. They had no problem notifying the Mahwah residents when they were only picking up garbage once a week, but when it came to changing the landscape of Mahwah forever Mayor DaPuzzo and town counsel felt it was not necessary to inform the Mahwah residents. What a joke.

I am all about change; just let the people vote and decide what is best for Mahwah, not a mayor and 4 counsel men.

there finished, anyway, I have said everything I need to say, but I beleive I speak for most of the Mahwah residents in my statement.

Mr. Berman and Charlie- At one time, most of the condo development in Mahwah was a "Red Herring". Then came Mount Laurel, COAH, Builder's Remedy law suits and large, but nice, condominium complexes sprung up all over town.

We, the People of Mahwah, are not in control of what Mahwah looks like: The Courts and Trenton are in absolute and total control. If the New Jersey Supreme Court slams Mahwah with bad COAH/affordable housing calculations, the "Red Herring" comes to life and potentially morphs into high density, massive, multi-story, city-like residential buildings.

(Continued)

Trenton and the Courts look at Mahwah as a rich exclusive area that can absorb an inordinate amount of housing. They also have the ability to cram it down our throats. With regard to zoning, the Courts can (and will) “fix” zoning, to fulfill the State’s housing objective. The Courts and Trenton have that ultimate power over Mahwah's destiny and they do not care. I hate the notion of a mall but I fear the ultimate legislative ability of the New Jersey Supreme Court and Trenton over Mahwah's future.

The Council was between a rock and a hard place on its decision: Potentially wait for the "Red Herring" to spring to life and swallow Mahwah or approve the mall. It would have been nice for the Council to fully inform the public of the hard and fast issues behind the zoning change and let us vote on it; BUT, in doing so, the Council would have set us up for an easier Builder’s Remedy law suit, making it even easier for the builder to create a massive city like residential complex around the Sheraton, regardless of the zoning.

I don’t know if the electorate is going to bash the Council for its decision of potentially stopping a massive housing development around the Sheraton; but, I also think that the Council would not overtly stab Mahwah residents in the back, especially when confronted by hundreds of boisterous objectors to the mall.

James, I would rather see low income houseing then a mall. As I have said before, I live in Mahwah, not Paramus, I worked in Hackensack for 21 years and I know the back roads like the back of my hand, why because every time rt 17 backed up (which happens all the time) I took the first exit off 17 and used the back roads. The same thing is going to happen here, macarthur blvd, ridge road, rt 202 will become cut throughs to get to rt 208 to hit 287. Franklin turnpike and airmount road will be cut throughs to get to the ny state thur way when the mall backs up due to traffic. The mall is a very bad idea for Mahwah, I understand and respect your views, but the mayor and town counsel could of handled this in a much better way.

The NJ Municipal land USe law is highly anti-democratic.

In the power granted to municipalities to zone, the law prohibits initiative or referendum. Specifically. section 62 provides::

NJSA 40:55D- 62

b. No zoning ordinance and no amendment or revision to any zoning ordinance shall be submitted to or adopted by initiative or referendum.

http://www.goleader.com/wf-masterplan/land_use_law.pdf

Citizens and environmental groups should seek legislation to repeal this section.

Wolfe

@James: Sorry if I didn't make myself clear - red herring is a "false" issue. It's false here, because no one has, to date, proposed any of these uses, and more to the point, would do so. The reason these uses have not been proposed is not because they'd be bad for the township, but rather because they'd be economic losses to the developer because of the times we live in. The economy is bad - the vacancy rate for commercial property up and down route 17 is high - and so no developer will or has proposed construction of "millions of square feet" of commercial space - they'd lose their shirts. Granted, when the economy turns around that argument will be moot, but we are still not without tools to control outcomes. We can think - we can legislate. And while court intervention is always a threat, we are talking about a large tract of land currently zoned for commercial use - not Mount Laurel or any other kind of housing. Arbitrary and capricious, it seems to me, is a standard much more properly applied to the activities of our Town Council back in March, now (thankfully) corrected, than it would be to re-zoning that property in a manner more in line with its obvious economic and ecological value to Mahwah residents.

Charlie, Ben and James: This is great dialog and demonstrates what "America" is all about. Our Master Plan from 1989 made Mahwah a business friendly town. We welcome corporate and research clients to build in Mahwah. The Crossroads property was meant to follow the "Blue Print" that our town planners have layed out many years ago. In that "Blue Print" there was no plans to turn our town into a retail Mecca. This is one of the largest projects to come our way. The town council and planning board should "REJECT" the developer’s application. The people should vote in November. The fate of Mahwah should not be in a few hands. This is a decision we should all have a say in. It’s simple. Make the developer build what is "Consistent" with Mahwah's master plan. Office / Research only!

Remember, the town Council voted 5 to 1 to REPEAL the mall ordinance. The Crossroads land is now zoned back to "OP-200" or better known as Office / Research development. If the PLANNING BOARD and the TOWN COUNCIL are sincere they should "REJECT” the developer’s application. In life you have to backup the "WORDS" you say --- WITH ACTION ---. So, Planning board members we ask you to TAKE ACTION !!!!
Sincerely,
Michael Richards

The Planning Board is meeting this Monday, 9/12, at 7 PM. Hopefully we will get another opportunity to show our "public servants" how unpopular they will be come November. I, for one just can't suck it up without a fight for truth and the rights of the people, fruitless as it may turn out to be. Let's fight the good fight, guys! See you Monday, and bring friends. Most of the general public has no knowledge of this meeting.

I agree with Michael Richards, it is time for action an no talk from the PLANNING BOARD and the TOWN COUNCIL. The PLANNING BOARD should back up the town council and "REJECT” the developer’s application. Phyllis you are right on the money, the public servants are very unpopular and if they keep going down the road they are going with out rejecting the developer's application, well lets just say we don't need them, we could have a bunch of trained monkey's do a better job for Mahwah. So Monday will show the Mahwah residents were the town council and the planning board stand. If members of the planning board are reading this, I suggest you think long and hard what your plans are for Monday night. Mahwah residents are watching everything the town council and planning board is doing. This is a problem the town council created back in March of 2011, it is time to clean up the mess. Monday night will show Mahwah residents weather the planning board is for the mahwah residents or the developer. Who ever reads this make sure Monday night you are at the planning board meeting 7pm, tell as many people as you can and lets have a full house to show the planning board MAHWAH DOES NOT WANT A MALL!!!!!! see everyone there, the time to act is now if you want to save Mahwah from a mall.

Threats and mob rule are not what our town is about. There are plenty of people getting sick of all the screaming and will quietly sit back and cast their vote when it counts. Go scream at the Council, march on the planning board to what end? Do you think there is a breathing person in town not aware of the crossroads? Trying to force your will on everyone else will only strengthen the resolve of those who do not want chaos and screaming matches. Try a little civility.

Bullmetric, after reading your comment, I went back and read all the comments once again. What threats and mob rule are you reffering too? I have not read anyone threating anyone.

The meetings have been very civil. That is how we were able to convince the town council to change their minds and repeal the mall ordinance. I have been going to the meeting since January. Please come on Monday and see for yourself. Thanks.

bullmetric
"mob rule?" Is that an ethnic slur, or just a colloquial american synonym for riled-up?
gottardo (aka bullfeetandinches)

Ditto Charlie & Michael Richards...