Condo project on agenda

By Carol Fletcher
Staff Writer
Suburban Trends
Sunday, July 23, 2006

WANAQUE - The local planning board will meet to discuss an application for 96 condominiums while also advancing new redevelopment plans for downtown Haskell. 

The meeting will take place at a special date on Tuesday, July 25 at 8 p.m. at Borough Hall. 

Board members will determine if an application for a 96-unit development named Water's Edge at Wanaque is complete.  The site reportedly sits near the Burger King on Union Avenue. 

Another plan to build 14 condominiums on the former Rhinesmith building site is also waiting in the wings, having received an exemption to build on land exempted from most development because it was previously built on. 

Meanwhile, borough officials have reported recently that an express hotel, approved a few years ago, is on its way to begin construction alongside Burger King on Union Avenue. 

The residential proposals raise the issue of whether the borough has enough sewer capacity. 

The regional sewerage authority reported earlier that the plant was operating above its 1.25 million gallon per day capacity. 

It is undergoing an upgrade to phase in service from its new neighbor, the Wanaque Reserve by Del Webb, a 755-unit senior complex still under construction. 

According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Wanaque Regional Valley Sewerage Authority has not applied for any permits to expand capacity. 

If it did, the authority would have to amend its wastewater management plan, which outlines its needs, and comply with an executive order on sewerage expansion. 

Additionally, the plant is required to get approval from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said a DEP spokesperson, because it is bound by conditions in an EPA grant it used to help fund earlier expansions. 

The EPA grant required that plant expansions had to comply with conditions made for environmentally sensitive areas. 

Board members are also scheduled to vote whether to approve a final site plan for Sal Falciglia Jr.'s proposed commercial building for downtown Haskell's redevelopment area. 

A planner is expected to be chosen to write a new redevelopment plan for south of Doty Road along Ringwood Avenue, and the borough is scheduled to be named as the entity handling the redevelopment. 


Article reprinted with the permission of Suburban Trends. Copyright 2006 Suburban Trends.