It’s like placing a motel at the base of Yosemite’s magnificent monolith, El Capitan.
That’s how an expert witness for an objector on Thursday described plans for apartments next to the historic Vail Mansion in Morristown.
At a nearly four-hour virtual planning board meeting–the seventh hearing on this application for 126-136 South St.–members also:
Let’s start on South Street.
126-136 SOUTH ST.
The evening’s main event featured two familiar adversaries: Developer attorney Frank Vitolo, and Maplewood planning consultant Peter Steck, testifying for an objector.
First, the new wrinkles:
Developer South Street Holdings Morristown LLC scaled its application from 39 apartments to 36–ostensibly eliminating the need for off-site parking. The project’s footprint would remain the same; space from the eliminated units would be reallocated to make other apartments larger.
This reduction in apartments lops one unit from the developer’s affordable housing obligation, down to five.
Pressed by Council President Stefan Armington and Mayor Tim Dougherty, who both serve on the board, the developer agreed to build all five of those affordable units onsite. A prior pledge, to transfer two units to a nonprofit across town via a $250,000 payment, amounted to an unfair bargain for the developer, Armington contended.
Okay, back to the main event.
“Nice to see you again, Mr. Steck,” Vitolo said, starting his cross-examination.
In Morris Township last year, Vitolo prevailed for the Abbey redevelopment, despite Steck’s opposition. Three years earlier, Steck testified for Headquarters Plaza against the Cambria hotel application in Morristown. Vitolo won that one, too.
This time, Steck was hired by Vail Mansion condo owner Issa Oweis to poke holes in plans for luxury apartments next door. Steck got right to it.
Likening the apartments to a motel at El Capitan, he said the view would be great for the new tenants — and lousy for everyone else. Light spilling from a ground-level parking garage will spoil the community’s enjoyment of the grand Vail lawn, he testified.
Moreover, Steck said, the project’s density exceeds town zoning, which limits the property to 30 units. He contends a variance is needed from the more stringent zoning board — a venue the developer has tried to avoid via a land donation Steck labeled an “artifice.”
The property covers just over one acre. Shave it below an acre, and the developer may qualify for an extra 10 units, a town “density bonus” meant to encourage urban development.
Hoping to achieve this, the developer offered slivers of land to the town last winter for a “pocket park.” Now, the offer has shifted to the state Department of Transportation, which oversees South Street.
The DOT has no practical use for these wedges; the gift only benefits the developer, and could trigger a review by state historic preservationists, according to Steck.
“It makes no sense,” he said.
Built by AT&T magnate Theodore Vail during World War One, the Vail Mansion is a contributing building to the Morristown Historic District, named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
For 74 years, the mansion served as Morristown’s town hall. Luxury condos were erected in 2008 on either side of the mansion, which became home to the upscale Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen six years later.
Steck took aim at apartment terraces that would jut over the Vail property line.
The developer has secured easements for this arrangement from the Vail condo association, an early opponent of the project. But if this square footage is counted, Steck said, the project exceeds one acre –regardless of whether the DOT accepts the gifted parcels.
Vitolo pointedly asked Steck if he thought he knew Morristown zoning better than town Planner Phil Abramson, who spearheaded the town master plan update and vetted this application. (Vitolo and Abramson also worked together on the Abbey application in Morris Township.)
“I don’t know,” Steck replied. “It’s not a contest.”
Saying he needed time to digest Steck’s arguments, Abramson asked him for a written report.
Reviewing this application is complicated, Abramson conceded. Through some legal “gymnastics,” he said, the town still retains a measure of control over the Vail property.
Things heated up when most of Vitolo’s efforts to challenge the objectors were shut down by board Attorney Lisa John-Basta and Chairman Joe Stanley.
To question Oweis’ motives for fighting this project, Vitolo attempted to cite a Morristown Green interview. But John-Basta ruled this irrelevant for cross-examination, because Steck’s testimony never addressed the objector’s intentions.
Vitolo kept pressing Steck about his interactions with Oweis, an engineer. Stanley cut him off this time.
“He may have gotten hired because Mr. Oweis liked his mustache,” the board chairman cracked.
Vitolo then accused Oweis’s lawyer, Tom Jardim, of contacting DOT officials to disparage the proposed land gift. “You should produce this to the board, Sir,” Vitolo demanded.
Jardim, who had deadpanned that Vitolo was off his Christmas card list, chuckled at the question. John-Basta reminded Vitolo that Jardim was not a witness, and that the issue at hand was the project’s density.
Meeting number eight is scheduled for late January — in person at town hall, if the pandemic eases up, Stanley said.
BAKOD HOLDING CORP.
The pandemic was cited as a reason for extending an October 2018 approval for 39 apartments with retail space at 45 Morris St., next to the Grasshopper Off the Green tavern. The project has not been built.
Bakod Holding Corp. is the applicant. Its address has been listed as Matt O’Donnell’s now-shuttered Morristown law office, and its holdings include his shore home in Sea Girt.
O’Donnell, the former board attorney and town tax appeal lawyer, was not mentioned on Thursday. Bakod’s lawyer, Paul Jemas, only spoke to thank the board for the extension. The vote was unanimous; the mayor recused himself.
Planning board approvals are good for two years. Applicants may seek up to three one-year extensions. Bakod got its first one in October 2020.
Board Attorney John Inglesino explained that a condition of the Bakod approval called for coordination of the building’s construction with that of a nearby parking garage proposed by the Morristown Parking Authority. That garage is on hold during the pandemic, Inglesino said.
O’Donnell’s legal situation is likely to complicate Bakod’s ability to proceed.
He faces up to three years in prison when sentenced next month. On the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties and restitution, he cannot sell any properties he owns without first getting state approval, according to his plea deal.
Authorities say O’Donnell schemed to bribe public officials for legal work. He pleaded to conspiracy to commit misconduct by a corporate official and conspiracy to tamper with public records, stemming from his firm’s contracts in Mt. Arlington and Bloomfield.
Cooperating with investigators, O’Donnell recorded video and audio conversations to implicate five public figures in Morris and Hudson counties.
CAMBRIA HOTEL: ‘HE RAN HEADLONG INTO COVID’
COVID-19 also was invoked as an obstacle to the hotel and office projects.
A 116-room Cambria hotel approved in 2017 for Market and Bank streets is just a hole in the ground. And it may stay that way, unless the board extends its approval long enough for the developer to close a deal with a prospective buyer.
That was the pitch from attorney Frank Vitolo, this time on behalf of Morristown hedge fund manager Daniel Khoshaba’s Sunstone Hotels LLC.
Vitolo said his client has spent more than $5 million on approvals and demolition; he’s even paid $400,000 to reserve spaces in a Morristown Parking Authority garage. He’s tapped out, the attorney said.
“He ran headlong into COVID. There isn’t a worse industry to be into in COVID than hotels,” said Vitolo.
He requested an extension until April 2022, so Sunstone can complete negotiations with a prospective buyer.
Without the extension, Vitolo said, the property will revert to zoning that does not allow hotels or multi-family housing. Then “you will have a hole there for quite some time.”
But the board wanted proof of an imminent deal. The mayor was skeptical any hotelier would meet Sunstone’s price right now. He voiced concern that an extension would enable the developer to obtain a building permit–and leave the property vacant for decades.
Chairman Joe Stanley asked Vitolo to return next month with testimony to back his claims.
PARK VIEW PARTNERS LLC
Vitolo also represents Park View Partners LLC, a Short Hills developer seeking approvals to replace the old New Jersey Monthly building, near the Green at 55 South Park Place, with 39,000 square feet of high-end office space, and about 3,300 square feet of retail.
He said he will withdraw the application soon if he cannot connect with the Morristown Parking Authority.
The project needs approximately 100 parking spaces. Vitolo said he’s tried for months to make a deal to use MPA garages.
But the parking authority has declined to enter such commitments until it determines how many of its customers’ employees, working from home during the pandemic, return to their Morristown offices.
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