A broad coalition of residents concerned with over-development, historic preservation and quality of life issues in Montclair has formed to directly influence township planning policies. Their goal is to provide more effective lobbying over redevelopment and zoning ordinances that impact all important local land use decisions.
The new group – SAVEMONTCLAIR COALITION FOR PRESERVATION AND RESPONSIVE DEVELOPMENT -- encourages residents to join them today by clicking on to a new website http://www.savemontclair.org/ and becoming a linked member of the Coalition. The site will help people stay quickly informed and provide occasional email updates to members about complicated planning and current zoning issues. It will show local leaders just how many people care about growth and future development in Montclair.
“Until recently, most new development allowed has been out of character and inappropriate” says Linda Cranston, lead organizer and founder of the original 174 member strong SaveMontclair and previously Save Upper Montclair. “Developer-driven concerns dominated township decision-making with resident’s interests secondary,” she says. “Density, congestion and parking are central issues. Yet, developers try to work behind the scenes to build bigger than our original, small-town footprint supports and without providing required parking.”
Over the last two years, Cranston has expanded her network into a town-wide focus. Now, she’s brought together a group of other concerned Coalition Advisory Board members, some connected to large constituencies, in order to present a more cohesive land-use lobbying bloc. These include: Dr. Alfred Davis, a leader in the 4th Ward based South End Business District, former Deputy Mayor Gerry Tobin, St. Luke’s Church Lay Warden Jinni Rock-Bailey, Ann Lippel, Chair of the Senior Citizen Advisory Committee and well known realtor and community activist Adriana O’Toole, among others.
Cranston says it’s only assertive lobbying and political action that’s helped redirect planning back towards resident needs. She believes its helped decision-makers “finally see that they can have intelligent development, while still keeping the township’s exceptionally rich architectural character that makes Montclair special”. Cranston points to hundreds of people who showed up at Master Plan hearings to protest the original proposed excessive building heights all over town. And the almost two hundred residents who held up signs at the planning board hearing to stop expansion of the much derided Valley and Bloom project.
Advisory Board Member Scott Kevelson, Founder of Friends of Anderson Park, agrees resident pressures can be effective. “When early drafts of the Master Plan called for seven-story buildings in the Upper Montclair Village, residents vociferously rejected that concept,” Kevelson says. “We suspect opposition to intense development exists townwide." He also cites positive impacts from lobbying and resident involvement which the current Council responded to. “The designation of Watchung Plaza as a historic district was a big plus, and we are optimistic that the updated historic preservation element of the Master Plan coming will set a course in the right direction."
Another Coalition Advisory Board member, architect and historian Frank Gerard Godlewski, is considered by many to be Montclair’s unofficial town historian. He feels that today’s newer Council Planning Board appointees are much better now and that they understand how Montclair’s architectural and residential “brand” must be maintained. However, he says there is still much more preservation work to be done. Godlewski believes the township still has to more fully understand and recognize the importance of maintaining the character of the original 1907 Nolan Plan which Montclair’s original land use planning and designs are based on. (http://baristanet.com/2012/04/frank-gg-consider-montclairs-past-when-planning-for- the-future/)
Godlewski blames poor official decision-making over the last 15 years which now needs to be reversed he says; including loss of Montclair’s no knock down preservation law that had protected all older homes here over 75 years old. It was removed in 2012 due to changes in the State’s municipal land use law. Godlewski also notes a downgrade of the town’s Historic Preservation Commission into largely only an advisory role today – for most planning and zoning decisions.
He points directly to Montclair Township’s Planner for much of these recent misguided decisions, including out of character and out of proportion construction on newer buildings like those on Pine Street, The Sienna, Valley and Bloom and other recent construction projects which were approved. Godlewski has, on more than one occasion, publicly called out the Planner for directly undermining Montclair’s master plan goals that impact historic preservation.
Well-known realtor Adriana O’Toole agrees with Godlewski and believes a new preservation push is now needed. “A good part of what we sell here is our charm and historic architectural feel,” O’Toole says. “These are economic inducements for people to both move and rent here and to help make the township a regional tourist stop with our great restaurants and shopping.” She says the HPC again needs to reinstate some basic older home protection to help prevent knock-downs and recently built eye sores, O’Toole believes are starting to pop up around town. Reportedly, the town’s Historic Commission is grappling with just these issues in a coming new Master Plan preservation element now being worked on.
However, not all Coalition Advisory Board Members agree on every issue. There were clear differences of opinion by some over the approved Seymour Street-Welmont Arts and Entertainment project adding a public square, entertainment spaces and more mixed-use retail and residential units directly within the downtown. Also, the coming Lackawanna Plaza plan, with new construction inserted right next to that historically protected train station and the Church Street Kensington Assisted Living/Alzheimers facility, if presented again by the Council for a “use” change approval, will likely create mixed reactions and controversy.
Advisory Board Member Robert Weber, also an Executive Board Member of the BID (Business Improvement District) has already supported the assisted living facility, while others like Ann Lippel of the Senior Citizen Advisory Committee came out directly against it. However, Cranston says the SaveMontclair Coalition will provide easy access to information and facts about all these issues, so residents can debate and make intelligent choices. “They will make up their own minds and help keep Montclair, Montclair”.
