Edison residents push back against high-rise development in Clara Barton section
EDISON – With a multi-story building on Amboy Avenue featuring a business on the ground floor and apartments above, and the possibility of more four-story buildings to come, residents in the Clara Barton section are seeing an unwelcome change.
And they want the Township Council to do something about, specifically by repealing a 2016 ordinance which allows four-story developments in their neighborhood.
At Thursday's Township Council meeting resident Sue Malone-Barber asked the Council to repeal a section of the Amboy Avenue Redevelopment Plan which allows a maximum building height of four stories, so that the maximum building height along Amboy Avenue reverts to three stories.
"Repealing the ordinance will solve the four-story issue immediately," she said.
Malone-Barber said the change is needed now because there are properties for sale along Amboy Avenue and if they are sold, they get to build four stories. She added residents have made their wishes clear during master plan discussions.
"High-density four-story development along Amboy Avenue is inappropriate and will dramatically change the look and feel of our community and increase the traffic. It is already hard to pull out of our streets onto Amboy Avenue. We don't want Amboy Avenue turned into an urban canyon," she said, adding 10 streets in the neighborhood feed onto Amboy Avenue.
The Clara Barton section in Edison is along Amboy Avenue bordered by Woodbridge Avenue and Route 1.
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Marlone-Barber said if four-story buildings were allowed it would block the sunlight at many homes in the area. She said repealing the ordinance would be the most expedient way to stop four-story development.
But it may not be that easy. Township officials said a zoning change would probably have to go back before the Planning Board to modify the area in need of redevelopment. And the master plan, which is under review by the Planning Board, recommends the zone in the Amboy Avenue area. One councilman suggested the Council just wait for the updated master plan.
Michael Burns, who was serving as township attorney, explained the change was made through the designation as an area in need of redevelopment, which involves a Planning Board study and then the Board's recommendation to the Council to adopt the site as an area in need of redevelopment and the Planning Board's redevelopment plan.
"It's not impossible to change, but it's a little more difficult to change," Burns said, adding his office will look into how to get it done.
Malone-Barber wasn't the only resident seeking to limit four-story buildings in that section of town. A Hoover Avenue resident said he didn't want to see the neighborhood turned into an urban nightmare, and a First Street woman said she wanted to preserve the community feel in the Clara Barton section which is an older neighborhood with Cape Cod-style homes.
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"People didn't move there to live next to giant apartment buildings," the First Street resident said. "Every property that comes up for sale, we're all sort of sweating that it's going to be apartment buildings."
She said a beauty parlor is going out of business and residents are concerned the site will become an apartment building. The same concern exists when a parking lot goes on the real estate market.
"I don't know if anyone on Stephenville Parkway has that worry, but we do and I don't know how we got this worry," she said.
Resident Nick Fagan said the residents are clear about wanting to stop overdevelopment in town.
"We keep saying it, over and over and over again. I don't understand why the administration and the Council doesn't get it," he said.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com
Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Edison NJ residents push back against high-rise development
