Green Light For Three-Story Affordable Housing Project In Chatham

CHATHAM, NJ — The Chatham Borough Council recently approved the Post Office Plaza site layout, which will be developed by Bergen County United Way (BCUW), but some residents are concerned about its potential appearance.

The Post Office Plaza redevelopment, now known as the Bowers Lane Affordable Housing Project, was originally pitched as a two-and-a-half-story development, which was confirmed at an informational meeting last December.

However, at last week's council meeting, the developers presented a new plan, and this one rose the height of the building up to three stories, with housing units planned for each floor.

The building will still have 15 units, but they will be spread across three floors rather than just two. According to the plans, the first floor will have five units, the second floor will have six units, and the third floor will have four units.

According to Chatham Borough Planner Kendra Lelie, the change was made in response to an engineer's recommendation. The previously planned structure of the building needed to be modified for a variety of reasons, making it more difficult to fit all the units on two floors, Lelie said.

"The building layout has changed a bit. It's still an L-shape but the long piece of the 'L' has become shorter and that's to allow for full circulation around the building, both for firefighting purposes but also additional parking spaces," Lelie said.

The building will have a total of 21 parking spaces for the residents to use, which previously raised concerns from residents inquiring about where potential excess cars will go. Under the current plan, the goal of the borough is to maintain parking spaces in the surrounding area.

"From a parking perspective, we're going to come up with some solutions in the meantime, it's not something that is going to happen tomorrow," Lelie said.

Council member Jocelyn Mathiasen praised the new structure plans, saying that the previous version, which was longer and shorter, looked more like a motel, whereas the new version blends in with other borough structures.

In response to Mathiasen's comment, local resident and planning board member Bill Heap expressed concern about the development's future appearance. Heap noted in his comment that the appearance of the Arbor Green development in the township was a warning sign for what could happen.

"I am sure by now that many of you have had the opportunity to drive up Southern Boulevard where you come upon the township's contribution to affordable housing and it's deceptively referred to as 'Arbor Green.' I say deceptively because I don't see many trees nor do I see much greenery… The architect that did design it probably has the Motel 6 account as well… The only thing that's lacking there are the flashing neon signs," Heap said.

The initial plans were unanimously approved by the council, which means the concept plans will now be forwarded to the Chatham Historic Preservation Commission and then to the Chatham Borough Planning Board, which will give final approval to the site plans.

The planning board is expected to put the project on the agenda this spring, with construction beginning in 2024 and lasting one year. Following approval of the site plan, funding for the project will be discussed and decided upon later in 2023.