August 24, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 7 Mahwah Crossroads referendum & rezoning repeal approved by Frank J. McMahon At a special meeting last week, the Mahwah Township Council voted 6-1 to place a non-binding referendum on the November ballot regarding the rezoning of the 140-acre International Crossroads property on Route 17. Approximately 125 people attended the meeting. The council also approved the language for the nonbinding referendum. Specifically, the referendum will ask township residents, “Should the Crossroads property be rezoned as primarily a retail/mall?” Voters will be provided with only two options: “yes” or “no.” Councilman Samuel Alderisio cast the lone “no” vote at the special session, maintaining his support for the rezoning of the Crossroads property. Council President John Roth voted for the referendum, saying that while he continued to support the rezoning of the Crossroads property “to reduce the divisiveness in the township and lower the decibel level in the discourse,” he would vote to hold the referendum. Mahwah Township Attorney John Conte advised that the ordinance the council introduced on Aug. 11 to repeal the three rezoning ordinances contained acceptable language, and did not have to be changed. The trio of ordinances called for the rezoning of the Crossroads site to permit a mixed retail, office space, hotel, theater, and recreational use. Roth then explained the complicated timing that must be met in order to allow the council to adopt the repealing ordinance as quickly as possible and before the Crossroads developer files a site plan application to the planning board, which would make the existing zoning for the Crossroads property permanent by state statute. According to Roth, since the ordinance involves zoning, it must be sent to the planning board for review and comment. That autonomous board has 35 days to do so. I that board reviews and approves the ordinance at its next meeting on Aug. 22 and returns it to the council on Aug. 23 and the township clerk can place the required newspaper legal notices and notify the adjacent property owners and municipalities of the proposed ordinance by Aug. 22 then the council could convene a special meeting to adopt the ordinance on Thursday, Sept 1. Councilman Chuck Jandris assured the council and public that the ordinance would be on the planning board’s agenda on Aug. 22 and Township Clerk Kathy Coletta confirmed that it would be possible to notify the adjacent property owners and municipalities by that same date and to place the required legal notices about the ordinance in time for a special meeting on Sept. 1. Jandris then made a motion to hold a special meeting of the council on Sept. 1 for the purpose of adopting the ordinance to repeal the three rezoning ordinance that were adopted on March 31. That motion passed by a unanimous vote of the council. Mayor John DaPuzzo does not have a vote on council matters and he made no comment at the meeting about his position on the referendum or repealing ordinance. Prior to the meeting, he said that while he continues to support the rezoning of the Crossroads property for retail, he also supports the action of the township council to request that a non-binding referendum about the rezoning be placed on the November ballot and to rescind the three rezoning ordinances. DaPuzzo explained that, before the adoption of the rezoning ordinances, only a handful of residents came to the council meetings when the rezoning ordinances were being discussed. Since the petition requesting the referendum was filed with more than 2000 signatures he concluded that the rezoning should be put to a vote of the residents. “I still support the Crossroads rezoning,” DaPuzzo said, “but I do support the action the council has taken.” Councilwoman Lisa DiGiulio wants the Crossroads rezoning ordinances rescinded so the issue will be taken out of the mayoral election in November. She is one of the three candidates seeking election as the mayor and she said she wants the election to be about what the candidates are going to do for the township, not about the mall. “This will be the people’s choice, not like the mall,” DiGiulio said, referring to the vote of the council to rezone the Crossroads property despite the opposition by many residents. DiGiulio said she introduced the ordinance to rescind the rezoning ordinances so it could be adopted before the developer of the Crossroads property files the plans for the development of that site. If the plans for the site are submitted before the rezoning ordinances are rescinded, according to a new state statute that was signed into law in May 2010, the zoning of the Crossroads property that is in effect at the time the plans are submitted is the zoning that must be used when the planning board reviews the plans. There are different legal opinions, however, on whether the legislature intended the statute to mean the zoning at the time of the submission of the plans or the zoning in place at the time that the plans are deemed complete by the (continued on page 15)