Page 10 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • November 6, 2013 Area Resident input essential in golf course development However the High Mountain Golf Course in Franklin Lakes is developed, the process will include maximum citi- zen input, Mayor Frank Bivona told a standing-room-only audience last week. Franklin Lakes and Wyckoff residents attended a meet-the-mayor session to discuss the proposed development of the 131-acre property. “It was a good meeting. We had a good response, and the residents have a better understanding of our options. If they have specific concerns, they should express them so we can address them before we lock things up,” Bivona said. Public hearings on the zone change will be held in front of the council and in front of the planning board once an ordinance is drafted, and again in front of the planning board once the developer presents its ultimate proposal for site plan approval. Developer Toll Brothers, Inc., the contract purchaser of the golf course, is asking the borough council to change the zoning from one-acre residential to high density residential. The proposal would include some affordable housing units towards the borough’s obligation of more than 200 units. The mayor said the council will discuss a draft ordi- nance with its professional experts at its Nov. 7 work ses- sion and may decide at that time whether to introduce the ordinance at its public meeting of Nov. 13. If introduced, the ordinance would be referred to the planning board, which will have 35 days to hold public hearings and make recommendations to the council. Bivona said the ordinance would be very specific to the negotiated proposal now under discussion so that no deviations occur at a future date. Toll proposes a residen- tial mix of 60 single-family detached homes on half-acre lots, 160 carriage homes with garages, and 55 affordable housing units without garages, totaling 275 dwellings. The single-family houses would be sited around the perimeter of the property adjacent to the golf course and bordering on comparable existing single-family homes in town and in Wyckoff. The two-story carriage homes would be clustered in the interior of the site, with the affordable housing units in three, three-story buildings near the entrance to the com- plex on Ewing Avenue. During last week’s meeting, at which about 40 percent of attendees were from Wyckoff, residents expressed concern about the level of traffic the development would generate, its impact on the local schools and the fact that there are no services and stores in close proximity to the site. Bivona said demographic studies show the elementary school enrollment is on the decline and the buildings have significant capacity, so he foresees no need for a new school to accommodate the 122 school children the proposal would potentially generate. The developer will be responsible for installing the roads, sewers, utilities and sidewalks within the complex. Bivona emphasized that the proposed plan was the result of over a year of negotiations to locally control the size of the development rather than have the courts make the deci- It’s official! sion. If kept to the original zoning, Toll could have built perhaps 100 single family homes, the mayor said, but the developer would instead have appealed to the Council for Affordable Housing for greater density because the bor- ough is well below its affordable housing obligation. “We have gotten to a number that may be acceptable and worthy of consideration and public hearing,” the mayor said. “It will be a high-quality development; we’d see to that,” he added, once again urging residents to attend the public meetings and make their concerns known at the hearings. The Spotted Dog, a pet grooming, boarding, and training center, recently held its Grand Opening at 347 Ramapo Valley Road in Oakland. On hand at the ribbon cutting were Chopper Russo of Re/Max, Sarah Loyas, Peg DePhillips of J-B Pets, Oakland Mayor Linda Schwager, Gregg DePhillips of J-B Pets, Carol Shull and Christine Loyas of The Spotted Dog, and Jeannie Durh of Ramapo Valley Animal Hospital.