Special Meeting Planned With Developer Who Sued Morristown

MORRISTOWN, NJ — The Morristown Planning Board will meet with a developer who previously sued the town after the planning board denied an extension for a mixed-use apartment project on Thursday night.

The special meeting will focus on the request for a one-year extension of approval for a property on 45 Morris Street.

Bakod Holding Corporation sued Morristown earlier this year, alleging that after their initial proposal for an apartment building planned for the vacant property near Grasshopper Off the Green, was approved by the planning board in 2018, they received two extensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the board refused to grant a third delay last year, according to the suit, which was filed in the state Superior Court in January. "The planning board’s findings, reasons for denial, and refusal to grant extensions were arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."

The property at 45 Morris Street has been vacant for several years and is located between the Grasshopper Off the Green building and Wilmont Street.

The lawsuit requested that the planning board's decision be reversed and that the extension denial be declared illegal under state law.

In August 2022, Morristown acknowledged that the development project—which includes six affordable housing units —was necessary to fulfill the town's unmet need obligation under the Settlement Agreement with FSHC, the Compliance Plan and the Judgment of Repose.

According to the previous lawsuit, the property was zoned for commercial business at the time Bakod applied to the planning board and received approvals for his mixed-use multifamily residential building.

The initial approval in 2018 included 1,200 square feet of retail space and 38 apartments in the rest of the building.

According to the suit, the municipality rezoned the area from a commercial business district to a "town center" zone after the plan was approved, lowering the maximum height of structures in the area and imposing additional density limitations.

Bakod subsequently requested the extensions, according to the prior lawsuit, in order to insulate the application's approval from the more strict regulations.

Bakod alleges that the Morristown planning board allowed just two one-year extensions, despite the Municipal Land Use Law allowing for three.

According to the lawsuit, the applicant repeatedly requested a planned developer's agreement in 2021 to continue progress on the project, but the "Planning Board and/or Town refused to authorize or provide" the agreement.

"In one particular instance, the Planning Board attorney, responding to a request for a proposed Developer’s Agreement, even asked 'what the urgency is in getting the plans signed'," the lawsuit alleged.

Bakod then stated that, for the first time since the last plan submission in 2019, the planning board legal counsel alerted them in September 2022 that there was an issue with the filed plans, requiring the applicant to request a third extension.

Ultimately, the Morristown Planning Board unanimously denied the third extension. The decision was memorialized on Dec. 1, 2022, with the official notice being published on Dec. 9, 2022.

To view all of the site plans for the approved project, click here.