Board rejects Alfieri for 2nd time in a year
O.B. officials maintain stance against Metropark South plan
BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer

A nearly 20-year-old plan to construct housing, offices and a hotel in the Laurence Harbor section has again been denied by Old Bridge's Zoning Board of Adjustment.

"I think it's important that the zoning board is sending a message," Mayor Jim Phillips said. "It's good to see that Old Bridge has the fighting spirit. We're not going to just roll over for developers anymore."

Developer Michael Alfieri's representatives indicated that they, too, have the fighting spirit. Alfieri's attorney, Frank Petrino, said the board could be held in contempt by the judge for its decision, according to Zoning Board Vice Chairman Kiran Desai.

Alfieri's plans are collectively known as Metropark South and would be located along Laurence Parkway near Garden State Parkway Exit 120.

After the board unanimously denied site plan approval for Alfieri's applications last February, the developer took the township to court. A Superior Court judge subsequently remanded the applications back to the zoning board, saying the board could extend the vesting period of the developer's expired approval if they so wished.

Desai said it was not the current board's place to extend the vesting period, and that if it were to be done, it should have taken place in 1987, when the board's then members decided to give Alfieri a total of 20 years to gain approval for its various applications.

"We have the obligation to uphold the law," Desai said. "Also, we have to seek the welfare of the township and the neighborhood."

The general development plan (GDP) for Alfieri's projects was originally approved in 1985. In November 1987, the board passed a resolution to extend the GDP vesting period for the project to 20 years. The 20 years, however, was still considered to have begun in 1985, at the time of the approval.

While the judge referred Alfieri back to the zoning board, Desai stressed that the board was not required to grant Alfieri the extension. The board also denied the developer's three applications on the grounds that the GDP approval was no longer valid.

Desai said Alfieri is welcome to submit a new application to the board.

"He is obviously concerned that the town can change and not allow him to build some of the residences he wanted to build," Township Planner Sam Rizzo said.

Vesting periods are like pacts between a municipality and a developer, protecting an applicant from changes in zoning as time passes. Their determination depends on the breadth of a given project, and how much time it is estimated to require. The inclusion of tax ratables such as offices and a hotel were likely seen as positive components that prompted the board to grant the 20-year vesting period in the 1980s.

"This guy has no intention to build offices or [a] hotel," Desai said.

Desai said Alfieri representatives' attempts to cite market conditions as a reason for needing an extension confirmed suspicions on the part of the board that the intent of the developer was to build only residences. The intent of town officials is to strike a balance between residential and commercial development in Old Bridge, Rizzo said.

The board responded to Alfieri's reasoning with their own, saying that if the market was not good now, what is the likelihood that another two years would be enough time for things to change and the project to move forward as proposed, Rizzo said. It was also stated by township officials that the developer had opportunities over the past 18 years to take advantage of good market conditions, but did not.

"I think it's just time for a new plan," Phillips said.

A call to Alfieri's office in Edison seeking comment for this story was not returned earlier this week.

The property in question will revert to its original zoning, which is special development 5 (SD-5), according to Phillips. This zoning would allow for commercial and office development, but not residential.

Alfieri's original GDP proposed three office buildings, totaling 800,000 square feet; 15,000 square feet of retail; a seven-story hotel with 168 rooms; two parking garages; and 83 single-family homes on land along Laurence Harbor Road.