Mahwah August 3, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Zoning board approves assisted living facility by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Zoning Board of Adjustment has approved a use variance application that will allow a developer to build an assisted living facility on the south side of a 4.6-acre property on Edison Road. The property is located in a GI industrial zone in the Fardale section of Mahwah near Wyckoff Avenue. Zoccoli Associates plans to build a three-story, 96 single room building with frontage on Edison Road. The developer also plans to subdivide the existing 10-lot residential portion of the property with frontage on Fairmount Avenue into five lots to form a buffer between the assisted living facility and the residential area on the north side of Fairmount Avenue. There is an existing residential lot on the south side of Fairmount Avenue that extends into this industriallyzoned property. The new residential lots would be adjacent to both sides of that existing lot. Stephen Sinisi, the attorney for Zoccoli, argued that the proposed use is inherently beneficial as defined by the state’s municipal land use law, even though it is not specifically listed as an inherently beneficial use in that law. All seven members of the zoning board voted to approve the use variance, but board member Nicolas Savino said he would not vote for the resolution memorializing the approval if it described the use as inherently beneficial. “I think it is beneficial,” Savino said, “but I don’t think it is inherently beneficial.” Prior to the board’s approval, James Brown, a professional engineer who prepared the plans for Zoccoli, described the most recent changes he made to the plan in response to the board’s concerns that were previously expressed about the size of the building. Using the latest drawing of the building, he explained that part of the northeast corner of the building has been “shaved off’” reducing the size of the building by 512 square feet per floor, or a total of 1,536 square feet. According to Brown, the change increases the distance from the building to the property of the adjacent owner from 42.7 feet to 65 feet, and eliminates the need for a rear yard setback variance, leaving the use variance, the variance for the covered entrance to the building, and a variance for lot depth deficiency to be approved by the board. Brenda Bacon, the president and chief executive officer of Brandywine Senior Living, a company headquartered in Mount Laurel that has 19 assisted living communities located in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut, then described the operation of an assisted living facility. She disclosed that an assisted living facility is different from a nursing home in that it is more of a residential environment where the residents do not need 24 hour a day nursing care. She said the average age of a resident is 85 to 86, and the average stay is about 2.5 years, but the residents are mobile and go shopping and take trips to Atlantic City or Broadway, although very few residents still drive automobiles. Bacon said there is a need for such a facility in Mahwah because none exist there now. She concurred with the applicant’s professional planner that it is an inherently beneficial use. She also agreed with the 50 proposed parking spaces because, in addition to the few residents who need parking spaces, she said many of the employees of an assisted living facility do not drive to work. Bacon pointed out that an assisted living facility must have a certificate of need from the state, and must be subject to all state and local regulations. She added that the facility’s construction and operation would be subject to the oversight of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. The board imposed several conditions on its approval. Those conditions include moving the location of the kitchen and laundry to the west side of the building and moving the door in that area so deliveries can be made on that side of the building; providing a private ambulance service to avoid the need to use the township’s volunteer ambulance service; providing additional landscaping and buffering from the adjacent property; making a contribution to the township’s sidewalk bank in lieu of providing sidewalks; adding a street light in front of the building near the covered entrance; and vacating the existing sanitary sewer easement on the property. In 2005, Zoccoli sought the zoning board’s approval to build a self storage facility on the part of the property that was zoned for industrial use. That plan drew opposition from the residential neighbors in the area who hired an attorney to represent them. That plan was amended in an attempt to appease the neighbors, but they continued to object until an agreement was reached between Zoccoli and the neighbors to rezone a portion of the GI 80 industrial and the residential lots along Fairmount Avenue into five conforming residential lots. That agreement also included the decision to vacate a portion of Jefferson Street south of Fairmount Avenue so a road could not be put there for vehicular traffic to travel between Edison Road, which is in the industrial zone, and that part of Fairmount Avenue that is in the residential zone.