Kings Highway Apartment Complex Scrutinized by Officials, Residents

Representatives of a development company spent more than two hours giving its case to Washington Township officials Monday night with the hopes of making progress in redeveloping an industrial zone into a housing complex. 

Attorney Michael Selvaggi, representing Kings Highway Corporation, LLC, sat before three members of the Washington Township Committee seeking some kind of forward movement in a process that has already gone on for nearly two years. 

Selvaggi, flanked by experts in traffic patterns, housing market data, engineering, and town planner David Banisch, didn’t get the momentum he was hoping for, as the governing body made no decision on the redevelopment options.

Mayor Ken Short and Vice Mayor Bill Roehrich abstained from the discussion, for personal reasons. Short has used Selvaggi as an attorney in the past, and Roehrich owns property within a short distance from the site in question.

At the bottom of Kings Highway near the intersection of Rt. 57 sits USR Optonix, a once heavily used industrial site that employed factory workers for decades. The operation has dwindled to nearly nothing, and the property owners are hoping to create a housing complex in its place.

After numerous meetings with the planning board over the course of nearly two years, that group has recommended the next step in the process be taken: a redevelopment ordinance turning the property into one for residential use.

The recommendation, however, came with plenty of “buts,” according to Banisch. 

Pros, Cons, and Plenty in Between

Banisch laid out a quick-hit list of positives and negatives of allowing redevelopment of the site, not the least of which were tax implications for the town.

Once the Optonix site completely shutters, the town will lose $172,000 annually in property tax revenue, Banisch said. “We also want to maintain a viable use of the land,” Selvaggi said about the site. “We certainly don’t want it to go dark.”

A tipping point between Kings Highway Corporation, LLC and the planning board revolved around traffic, and the increase an already hectic intersection would see if 208 housing units were built.

“The traffic situation was not great,” Banisch said. “The sides had many spirited debates about that.”

Traffic expert Joseph Staiger told the committee the current traffic volume is not significant, and adding more vehicles during peak times (morning and evening) wouldn’t create a major problem, despite the traffic flow nearly doubling during the morning commute.

“We’re not adding anymore traffic than was already in use when the site was in full operation,” Staiger said. The expert said throughout the course of the day, on average, there would be one more car in the area every three to four minutes.

Staiger said traffic turning left onto Kings Highway from Rt. 57 currently takes five seconds to complete the move; building the residential complex would increase that figure to 9.7 seconds in the morning and 9 seconds at night for each vehicle.

Kings Highway contended that building a housing complex would generate tax revenue and employment opportunities, as well as adding students back into the school district when enrollment is projected to decline by the hundreds over the next five years.

The time is right for residential space, Banisch said.

“Industrial zone use just isn’t happening any time soon,” the planner said, forecasting no new business would likely take over the current site in the near future.

Most importantly for the committee, Banish said, was the decision that would be made in regards to how a rezoning would take place. The township essentially has two options: a redevelopment zoning plan, or a conventional zoning plan.

The difference was in the control, he said.

“A redevelopment plan would be simple and straightforward, and the township can somewhat control what the end product is,” Banisch said. “With a conventional zoning plan, the township can’t legislate if the residences are owner-occupied or rental units.”

Impact on Washington Township

An endpoint to development came from a market study of four different avenues, according to market analysis expert Peter Matone.

The analysis studied continued use of the site in its current state; other industrial use; owner-occupied residential use; and rental residential use.

“Apartment use was really the only that passed the smell test,” Matone said, citing a very high demand for rental living space in the western Morris, eastern Warren County region but too small of a supply.

The construction of a proposed 220 apartments would include the following, if approved:

• 64 one-bedroom apartments
• 8 one-bedroom low- to moderate-income housing apartments
• 112 two-bedroom apartments
• 27 two-bedroom low- to moderate-income housing apartments
• 9 three-bedroom low- to moderate-income housing apartments

The current model only shows 208 units after it was amended during revisions. The number of apartments and styles was not yet available.

Forty-four low- to moderate-income housing units would likely fulfill the township’s Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligations. With each unit filled, projections showed approximately 38 students from grades K-12 would be living in the development and going to Washington Township schools.

Any complex built would be integrated, meaning tenants under the affordable housing payment plan and regular payment plan could live next door to each other. While there would only be one entrance to the development, there would be 431 parking spots for tenants and guests to use.

All residents would be background checked, gainfully employed, and “won’t be subsidized by the government,” Selvaggi said.

Residents React

“This isn’t a project I think is appropriate,” said Kings Highway resident Dave Clark. “I’m not sure if this is right for our community.”

Clark, who lives at the top of Kings Highway near Pleasant Grove Road, said traffic is already a concern without the additional residents, and that the “road is woefully inadequate” to handle the additional traffic.

“The (development group’s) profit isn’t my problem,” Clark said. “I know they don’t want the site to go dark, but that’s not my problem.”

Patrice Schaeffer, also a resident of Kings Highway, was concerned about traffic as well as property values.

“The traffic study they conducted needs to be reevaluated,” she said. “The traffic is already horrendous. This would make it very scary. I can’t imagine the impact of a 100-percent increase in traffic flow.”

Schaeffer, who lived in the area when the Kings Highway bridge over the Musconetcong River was reconstructed a few years ago, said it took her 6.5 miles to get to ShopRite in Mansfield, just a short drive down the road, because of the construction.

“The construction would be a mess and last for years,” she said. “We haven’t even considered that impact on the residents of the area.”

If the township committee approves any redevelopment plan, the group would then go back to the planning board for a public hearing. No timetable or motion has been made.

What do you think of the possible building of an apartment complex on Kings Highway? Are you in favor or against it?