December 17, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 9 Franklin Lakes Borough council sets new sanitary sewer district by Frank J McMahon This week, the Franklin Lakes Borough Council is expected to adopt an ordinance that would authorize a new sewer district in the borough and authorize the construc- tion of a sanitary sewer by the developer of an affordable housing complex located on a 14-acre property at 556 Colonial Road. The property is located just east of the New York Susquehanna & Western Rail- way tracks and Route 287 and just north of the access ramps to that highway and Route 208. Franklin Lakes Sewer District #1 would extend from the property along Colonial Road to a trunk line on Franklin Avenue that is owned by Northwest Bergen Utili- ties Authority. Franklin Lakes Realty, LLC of Moun- tainside is the current owner of the prop- erty and intends to construct two buildings containing 87 residential units on the site. One building in the development will con- tain 64 market rate units and the other will have 23 units, five of which will be open market non-deed restricted units, while the remaining 18 units will be deed restricted affordable housing units for sale or rent at the option of Franklin Lakes Realty. The planning board has approved the plans for the development. Those plans require the developer to install a sewer line to serve the 87 units, which will be named the Franklin Lakes Realty Line. Twenty-seven other residential proper- ties will be able to connect directly to the Franklin Lakes Realty Line and will be charged a connection fee to offset a part of the line’s construction costs and related administrative costs. The new sewer district would be oper- ated under the authority of the Franklin Lakes Sewer Utility and the developer would initially bear the entire cost and expense of the installation of the sewer line and other appurtenances, as required by the approved plans or any other directions provided by the borough or its agents. In the event that one or more of the 27 properties are connected to the Franklin Lakes Realty Line, a connection fee must be paid by the property owner to the bor- ough in the amount of $8,000. From this connection fee, the borough would pay Franklin Lakes Realty the sum of $7,500 per dwelling unit as reimbursement for that dwelling unit’s reasonable share of the cost of the line. Each owner of property fronting on a street where any portion of the sewer improvement has been installed will have the option, but not the obligation, to con- nect to the sewer line at that owner’s sole expense. In the event that a property owner decides to connect to the sewer improve- ment, that owner will be obligated to pay the borough the connection fee for the cost of the sewer improvement includ- ing the lateral lines constructed from the trunk line to the right of way line, and the expenses of administration. But the ordi- nance states that the borough would not be liable for any cost or charge which might otherwise be incurred in connection with the sewer improvement, the connection charge, or any administrative or judicial proceeding cost. In March 2013, the planning board approved the amended plans for this development for the fifth time permit- ting a grading change on the property to allow the proposed sewer line along Colo- nial Road to be raised by one-and-a-half feet to align with the new sewer line that was being installed on Franklin Avenue by the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority. That grading change permits a grav- ity flow in that sewer line and avoids the need for a second pumping station at the developer’s site. This site has a long history of planning board review and approval. A two-build- ing site plan was originally approved by the planning board in December 2003 under the duress of a court endorsed set- tlement of an affordable housing “builder’s remedy” lawsuit that was filed by Uni- versity Heights, the developer of the Old Mill Road affordable housing complex, now called Mill Pond, which was joined by Colonial Road Associates, the original owner and potential developer of this site. That site plan was amended in June 2004 and again in December 2009 to allow the developer to market the age- restricted housing units that were previ- ously approved for the site as non-age restricted units in accordance with legis- lation that was enacted by the New Jersey Legislature in July 2009 due to the poor economy and the slump in the housing market. That amended plan still contained two buildings on the site, but one of the build- ings was shortened by 25 percent and on- grade parking was to have been provided in the area previously occupied by that part of the building. In addition, the devel- oper agreed to install elevators that would accommodate the stretchers used by the borough’s emergency services, install a full sprinkler system in each building, and locate standpipes in all stairway towers to facilitate access to water in a fire emer- gency from inside the building. In addi- tion, variances were granted to permit the four-story height of the smaller building because the borough code only allowed a maximum of three stories.