CLARK — At its June 6 regular meeting, the Clark Planning Board approved a redevelopment plan for 27-33 Westfield Avenue that will include a small office space, retail on the first floor and apartment units on the second, third and fourth floors.
There will be 39 apartment units at this site, which will include 13 onebedroom units, 14 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom units. In compliance with state guidelines, there will be six affordable-housing units — one one-bedroom unit, three twobedroom units and two three-bedroom units — which will have the same dimensions and quality as the non-affordable units.
There will be 845 square feet of retail space on the first floor and an open parking garage that will be accessible on Westfield Avenue, with designated parking spaces for each apartment unit and parking spaces for commercial use. There also is a designated area of the garage for loading and unloading trucks, with a 12-foot ceiling height to accommodate the trucks and for ambulances and fire vehicles. Twelve electric vehicle (EV) spots also are provided in tandem spaces, with both spots being accessible to the charging station. There will be space for a landscaping plot that will face Washington Street.
Amenity spaces will be available on each floor, such as a 500-squarefoot business center, a 500-squarefoot gym, a 900-square-foot club room and an optional rooftop deck.
Attorney Stephen Hehl presented the site plan application to the planning board. Mr. Hehl had originally proposed this application on behalf of the applicant at the March 7 regular meeting, but was denied due to concerns about parking provisions and about a proposed driveway that would empty out onto Washington Street.
The new plan that was presented to the board reduced the office/commercial space so that there could be four new parking spaces in its place, bringing the total amount of parking spaces up to 73. The revised plans also omit a driveway that would have been on Washington Street and instead add five feet of turn-around space for cars. For more street-parking space on Westfield Avenue, the sidewalk will be eliminated.
Adhan Khan, the applicant’s engineer; Miguel Martin, the applicant’s architect; Corey Chase, the applicant’s traffic engineer, and Justin Auciello, the applicant’s planner, all testified before the board, going through different aspects of the application in detail and explaining how they complied with township and state regulations.
Dean Russo, owner of Personally Yours Gift Baskets on Westfield Avenue as well as a resident and property owner on the street, explained how this site can be helpful to businesses on Westfield Avenue.
“Westfield Avenue is in dire need of redevelopment,” Mr. Russo said. “It’s truly an embarrassment to the residents of Clark as well as myself. It is time for us to move forward, like the adjacent towns around us, and develop something that we are proud of.”
Augie Tobia, owner of Ace Hardware on Westfield Avenue, seconded the opinion of Mr. Russo.
“It’s been far too long that we’ve let a blight in our neighborhood be there,” Mr. Tobia said. “My customers come to the store, and they travel from Westfield, Scotch Plains, Fanwood, and they come to my business, and I can’t tell you how many times I hear the same comments: ‘What the heck is going on over there? Why is that building next door looking like that? Why does the building across the street look like that?’ I urge you, for the goodness of this town, to approve this project.”
Bill Nierstedt, a member of the Garwood Planning Board who owns a condo at 10 Washington Street, expressed concern about the effect that the site will have on the residents of Washington Street, as this street will be right next to this site.
“I do concur that Westfield Avenue needs redevelopment,” Mr. Nierstedt said. “I would recommend that more consideration be given to Washington Street.” He disagreed with the idea of removing the sidewalk and wants more plants and shrubs around the site so that the residents of Washington Street do not have a full view of the parking lot.
Arlene Ringwood, another resident who lives on Washington Street, also expressed concerns that the project would negatively impact the residents of Washington Street.
“Would you like to walk out your front door and have a four-story building staring you in the face?” Ms. Ringwood asked. “Please, reconsider this. Consider your families, not just your businesses; your families, who live here, who own homes, who send their kids to school, who want their kids to play on the front lawn. We don’t want to be a busy street with lots of traffic.”
Ms. Ringwood said that traffic and parking are already issues on Washington Street. Mayor Sal Bonaccorso assured the attendees of the meeting that if the site was to cause any issues on Washington Street, the township would take care of it.
“I come down Westfield Avenue every single day and I’m getting tired of seeing Westfield Avenue like it is and I think it’s time that we do redevelopment,” Mayor Bonaccorso said. “With the concerns of the residents on Washington Street, we hear your concerns and we will try to do whatever we can do to work with any concerns that come forward. And I get ‘Not in my backyard’; I get that. I know the concern about something new; I had that concern about TD Bank in 2000, and I was concerned about traffic.. [but] that bank doesn’t bother us.”
The mayor went on to say that this complex was not what the planning board had in mind when it began thinking about a way to redevelop Westfield Avenue more than 10 years ago, but that due to state mandates like affordable housing, this site plan makes sense because it complies.
“I’m gonna be supporting this project because it does comply, and I understand some of your concerns, but we have to comply,” Mayor Bonaccorso said. “I hope this is the beginning of downtown Clark.”
The next meeting of the Clark Planning Board will be held on Thursday, July 11.
