Size Decreased for Proposed Youth Housing Building

The zoning board unanimously approved a new April 17 to be built by the Somerset County Home for Temporarily Displaced Children after representatives followed requests to make the building smaller to fit in better with the neighborhood.

The board asked the organization to redraw its plans after a January meeting in which members said they believe the planned building was too expansive for the surrounding neighborhood on 3rd and 4th avenues off North Bridge Street.

Originally, the plans were for a 10-unit residence for youth ages 18 to 25 years.

According to Joe McKernan, architect for the applicant, the plan was initially for for a house that would be 7,941 square feet on the first floor. The first floor, he said, would have four units, with another six on the second floor.

That first floor, McKernan said, would also have a community room, with two offices and a conference room.

But McKernan came back before the board April 17 and reported that the organization had reduced the size of the building in accordance with requests.

The basement, McKernan said, was reduced by 650 square feet, the first floor was reduced by 285 square feet and the second floor was reduced by 7 square feet.

From there, McKernan said, they reduced the roof height by 3.5 feet.

Planner Lester Nevenzahl said most of his testimony remains the same from the first hearing, and that he believes the building will have no detriment on the surrounding neighborhood.

“I see nothing but benefits given the revisions,” he said. “There is no detriment to the neighborhood. It is in an area where the town has helped create a situation where this wonderful type of housing which is so necessary can be constructed and be compatible with uses across the street.”

Several of the board members said they are pleased the organization listened to their concerns and moved forward with the changes.

“I thank the applicant for listening to the concerns the board voiced earlier about the size, about the mass and about the density,” said board member Donald Sweeney. “From the get go, I have liked what this project was trying to do, and I think there is a greater need in the community for this.”

“I think the project works in this particular area where we have group homes already,” he added.

Board member James Scott said he would have liked to see the size reduced more, but was OK with the changes made.

“I appreciate the fact that the building was reduced some, although I would have liked to see it reduced more to fit in with the neighbor’s houses,” he said.

But resident Buck Boccanfusco said he is not convinced the new building belongs in that neighborhood.

“I disagree about the impact on the neighborhood, and it’s a detriment in my opinion,” he said. “There are numerous of these facilities in this area, but the smaller homes are being squashed out of the area.”

“We will have a 10-unit apartment house in the middle of single family homes, and in addition to that, there will be four others of the applicants’ facilities in a four-block radius,” he added. “I am opposed to it for that reason, and I believe it is a detriment to the original footprint of that neighborhood.”

Discussions on the application also centered on the landscaping, particularly with the proposed forsythia surrounding the dumpsters. Landscape architect Len Piscetelli said they had forsythia planned around the dumpster container.

In addition, Piscetelli said, the applicant has increased the size of the Japanese Holly trees from 36 to 42 inches to screen the parking lot.

“It’s the same amount of plants with a smaller parking lot, so the coverage on both sides is very dense,” he said.

As for the forsythia planned, Piscetelli said it is mostly for aesthetics because they are fairly dense, particularly in winter, and in the spring they will have a beautiful yellow color.

“As far as I’m concerned, that is an added bonus,” he said. “We want the property to look different through every season, to change with the seasons and give the people living there and looking in something of interest.”

But Boccanfusco said he is concerned about how the plant will look in the late fall and winter when the colors are not there.

“[At those times] it’s a stick, a weed, and that’s what we’re going to see,” he said. “So the little bit of benefit of seeing yellow in spring is nice, but the rest of the year it’s not.”

Instead, Boccanfusco said, he would rather see Japanese Holly or Evergreen trees in that area to hide the dumpster.

After speaking with the board, Piscetelli said he would work toward using the Japanese Holly or Green Giant Arborvitae in the area instead.

Aside from these concerns, the application was unanimously approved for the residence.