Residents Voice Concerns About 'Overdevelopment' At Westfield Meeting

WESTFIELD, NJ — Westfield Town Council held its annual reorganization meeting on Tuesday night, where once again, redevelopment and the One Westfield Place project was top of mind for residents.

Several residents expressed their support for the group "Westfield Advocates for Responsible Redevelopment," as well as the petition — signed by nearly 1,200 people — that implores the council to rethink the project.

Read more: Residents Launch Petition To 'Rethink' One Westfield Place Development

Resident Christine Kiefer read off some of the comments that were made on the petition.

One stated, "This project will change the town's feel and charm too dramatically. More importantly, based on information shared by the town and developers, the proper studies have clearly not been conducted. Concerns by many residents over traffic, and even worse major flooding due to future storms, have not been wholly and satisfactorily addressed."

Another recent comment states, "Our leaders have a different vision for Westfield than the majority of residents who want want to remain a suburban colonial town rather than a regional hub like Morristown. Traffic and densification continue to get worse. Government needs to put limits on traffic, building heights, loss of open space..."

Several residents also urged the council to put the redevelopment to a non-binding referendum vote.

While many argued that a non-binding referendum is legal, Mayor Shelley Brindle argued otherwise.

Brindle referred residents to the One Westfield Place FAQ that states that the Local Housing and Redevelopment Law states that "a referendum related to a redevelopment project cannot be held, and it makes no distinction between binding versus non-binding referendums; therefore neither is permitted."

Under the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, (NJSA 40A:12A-28), no redevelopment plan “shall be submitted to or adopted by initiative or referendum,” the FAQ states.

In addition, Brindle said the town has been unable to identify any other municipality in the state that has ever held a referendum on a redevelopment project, regardless of whether it was binding or non-binding.

The FAQ also states that the power to conduct referendums can generally only be granted by the State Legislature. Westfield is one of only eleven municipalities that operate under a “Special Charter” form of government. Of those, only four municipalities have the power of referendum, and Westfield is not one of them.

On the flip side, many residents at the meeting expressed excitement about the proposed development.

Resident John Mohalen said he is "100 percent behind the project."

"These are the things things I want: I want the Lord & Taylor fixed, I want a 55 and older place. I don't want to rake my leaves, clean my gutters, replace my air conditioners. I'd like to stay here," he said.

Marci Bandelli said she is excited about the project loves the idea of having a town square.

"I don't think this project takes away a small-town feel at all," she said. "I think it revitalizes this small town, which could in certain areas look tired."

Drew Kellerman expressed similar sentiments and said she believes the project will "save the downtown."

"I look to other downtowns in the state, and I see they have lapped us," she said.

"I am looking at a petition that has 1200 signatures. To me, in town of 30,000 people that seems like a very small group of people," she added.

Toward the end of the meeting, Mayor Brindle spoke about the petition and recognized that it has motivated more residents to want to know more information about the project.

But she also pointed out many inaccuracies she found in the petition.

"The petition says [the project will] obliterate the sight line of trees. But nowhere in the petition does it say that the project will add 200 trees," she said.

She added that the petition does not mention all of the traffic improvements that Streetworks has proposed, which aims to help with congestion issues.

Brindle added that the petition began circulating on Dec. 8 before a lot of information on the project was even made available. Therefore, Brindle said the petition contains inaccurate information and has not taken into account the recent traffic and finance presentations.

"People are signing this without being fully informed," Brindle said.

You can watch the entire town council meeting on Facebook.