October 19, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Mahwah Attorney to petition court on Crossroads issue by Frank J. McMahon Following a closed session meeting last week, the Mahwah Planning Board authorized its attorney, Peter Scandariato, to petition the Superior Court to provide a clarification of the new “time of application” law as it relates to the development of the International Crossroads property. The law became effective on May 5, and has not yet been tested in court. Scandariato will ask the court to determine if the new law applies to the pending Crossroads retail mall development application, and whether there are any exceptions that could be applied to this development. The Crossroads application was filed on Aug. 31, the day before the township council repealed the ordinances it adopted on March 31 to rezone the Crossroads property from office park to a mixed retail, office space, hotel, theater, and recreational use. Michael Kates, the attorney for the Committee to Stop the Mahwah Mall, suggested the board seek the court’s opinion in order to avoid a time consuming and potentially costly public hearing of the Crossroads application in the event that the application is nullified as a result of the lawsuits filed by the committee and the Village of Suffern (New York). Those suits challenge the validity of the rezoning ordinances the council adopted in March. Kates also asked the planning board to reject the Crossroads application outright before the lengthy public hearing, but acknowledged that, since the new time of application law was untested in the courts, that may not be practical. Scandariato said rejecting the application would be the worst thing the board could do because, under the state’s land use law, if the township does not respond to the application within 95 days from the time that application is deemed complete, the application would be automatically approved. Gary Montroy, the township’s administrative/zoning officer, deemed the Crossroads application complete on Sept. 6. The exceptions to the new law that Scandariato mentioned were explained by Stuart Koenig, a noted land use (continued on page 8)