Mahwah September 4, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Court decision could alter Crossroads mall plan by Frank J. McMahon Superior Court Judge Alexander Carver III recently affirmed the legality of the Mahwah ordinance that rezoned the International Crossroads property for retail use. His decision could open the way for a new access to the site, which is located at the intersection of Routes 17 and 287. Crossroads Developers Associates, LLC plans to con- struct a 600,000 square foot retail center with two big-box stores, a 10-plex theater, 200,000 square feet of retail shops along a pedestrian corridor, and an athletic field on the 140- acre property. Pending this court ruling, the developer has been pre- senting its application to the township’s planning board. The plans include an entrance and exit at the north end of the site and an exit road leading to the Mountainside Avenue overpass. If the retail rezoning ordinance had been found invalid, those proceedings would have been forced to a halt while the developer challenged the decision in Appellate Court. Now that the judge has affirmed the retail rezoning ordi- nance, the public hearing before the planning board will continue and may provide the developer with an opportu- nity now, or at a later date, to revise the plans to purchase the adjacent Suburban Propane property in order to provide a better access to the mall. James Jaworski, the attorney for Crossroads, previ- ously stated that if Carver invalidated the ordinance that rescinded the original rezoning ordinance that would open up the possibility of making changes to the plans for a dif- ferent access. If the repealing ordinance were left intact, however, Jaworski claimed the purchase of the Suburban Propane property would not have been possible because it would require his client to change the plans. Such a change, he said, would require a new application to the planning board that would have to be considered under the proper- ty’s previous office park zoning, which does not permit retail use. Subsequent to Carver’s decision, Jaworski said that, since his clients are close to finishing the process with their application to the planning board as originally filed, he does not think his clients will want to restart the process by adding other complications. He added, “To the extent that this may open avenues to pursue going forward, there may well be opportuni- ties in the future. Of course, that assumes there will be no new attempt to rescind ordinance 1684 (the ordinance that rezoned the property to retail use).” “We are happy to put this needless litigation behind us,” Jaworski said, “and focus on concluding the process with the Mahwah Planning Board now.” In his decision, Carver provided a procedural history of this rezoning issue, including the chronological history of the introduction and adoption of the several ordinances involved. Carver concluded that the “time of application” rule in state law is applicable to this matter and, therefore, the ordinance rezoning the property to retail use is the valid governing ordinance of the Crossroads application before the planning board. He was referring to the fact that, when Crossroads submitted the application to the planning board, the ordi- nance rezoning the property to retail use was in effect and is therefore valid. He found the township council’s subse- quent adoption of the ordinance to rescind the original (continued on page 17)