I have had an eventful day! I watched the Highlands Bill become LAW! It was nice to see the Gov. actually put pen to paper and make the Highlands Law! On my way home I recieved a call telling me that Christ Church had submitted a revised plan - so off to townhall to take a look.
"provided"- 1389 -they will "bank" the additional 140
Now here is the kicker - 151 of the parking will be on the ground floor of a parking garage with the 140 that are banked on the top floor of the parking garage.
277 parking spaces will be in the underground parking garage. They plan on building this parking garage under the sanctuary.
John Jenkins and I took a quick look at the plans today - we will have our experts review them in great detail soon.
So what do you all think of these revisions?
Lisa
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The truth wins out over slick PR and personal attacks.
The Christ Church Plan for the redevelopment of 140 Green Pond Rd is just too big for the area.
Here are the numbers that would be satisfactory to most of us here in town:
quote: Originally posted by: Lisa Salberg Main Sanctuary - 0 seats fellowship hall - 0 seats Classrooms - Kids 0 rooms adults 0 rooms Preforming arts 0 rooms Chapel 0 seats Rec center 0 sq ft Offices 0 sq ft Youth center sq ft Hight of highest point of building 0 feet Parking: Need - 1 Million (they claim) exsisting- 875 "provided"- 1389 -they will "bank" the additional 140 Now here is the kicker - 0 of the parking will be on the ground floor of a parking garage with the 0 that are banked on the top floor of the parking garage. 0 parking spaces will be in the underground parking garage. They plan on building this parking garage under the sanctuary. John Jenkins and I took a quick look at the plans today - we will have our experts review them in great detail soon. So what do you all think of these revisions? Lisa"
Underground parking-won't that affect the waterways or something? How many levels on the parking deck? What a horror for the landscape of the town.
With these plans they will still have way over 5000 people on a Sunday if they stick with only 2 sessions. With 22 classrooms, say 20 students per classroom, still over 400 kids per day 2 times a day. Plus a 33,000 sq. ft office building-how many will that hold?
Still too big! Still too detrimental to RT.
And can they, if they get in, build more in spite of the Highland's Bill?
WE MUST FIGHT THIS TO SAVE ALL THAT MAKES US WANT TO LIVE HERE!
Call me stupid about these kinds of things, I really don't understand them. But if what you say is correct, then how could they even submit that in their plans?
What has the Highland's Bill done to stop any of this? It all sounds pretty much as to what they had planned for originally, 500 seats less, big deal. The masses will still be able to come and destroy our town of our environment, roads, taxes, etc. I really thought, again, stupid me, that the Highlands would restrict them alot. Seems we are back to square 1.
Is it not possible that one could take the same square footage that was in the original plan for the stadium and just re-allocate the number of square feet per seat (ie. raise the number of square feet allocated per seat)? Would that not yield a legal fiction indicating a reduction in people accomodations? What would stop them from adding seats inbetween the planned seats as soon as he grows? All he would have to do is re-arrange things a bit.
This thing has got to go NOW. Condem the land for whatever reason we can think of and do it NOW! Our taxes just went up 6 percent or so here in RT, so let the raise in taxes pay for the legal council needed to defend ourselves in a lawsuit that we can drag out for the next five years. Let the games begin NOW! Just say NO to Ireland and his circus and get on with it.
I think it's important to remember that these "New" plans that were submitted still have not addressed the Highlands issues, because the Highlands was just signed and no one has any guidelines or interpretations of what its impact will actually be. I believe the CC attorney mentioned that at the last meeting, that even though they were in the process of revising their plans, there would probably need to be additional revisions when the full impact of the Highlands regulations are realized. So dont count the Highlands out yet as a major factor. Also dont forget that RT is revising its own ordinances right now. Those changes will also have to be met by CC (if they can at all) when they become law. In any event, the board has yet to hear any details or studies on any plans to date. Just because plans are submitted, doesnt assure acceptance. So dont give up yet. There are many steps to go thru yet and probably many years of hearings, studies, applications, surveys, and permits to be obtained, if ever at all.
Parking for 1600 cars underground, above ground and across the street. Ploice direct traffic in and out.
My point?
It is possible to build this type of facility in essex county with highway accesability, and not abandon your followers by moving 30-45 minutes away (without traffic).
Why not gentrify a deteriorated area of NJ instead of ruining a nice area with environmental blithe and traffic?
I think your assessment of the situation is correct. Ireland will try his best to get in anyway he can. Our best chance to avoid this calamity is to prevent his foot getting in the door. Once he's in, even under a scaled down scenario, he can seek to expand in the future. At that time we will no longer have the Agilent tax revenues to defray legal costs and may or may not have Marci Hamilton available to assist in our behalf.
PS. I thought that the Highlands Bill, now law, would prevent footings for a parking garage since they would impede the flow of groundwater. Am I wrong?
I thought that underground parking garages located below the water table are more suited for boats than cars. I can not imagine what this guy is up to.
Careful evaluation of these plans lead one to a thought that someone is pulling something - but I can not help but think that those who have written these plans are taking advantage of their client. The data they have used is out of date and NOT current law. The plans are drawn out with a 150 foot buffer zone, as they claim the brooks are not C-1. THESE ARE C-1 waters and subject to 300 foot buffers - thus cutting out a great number of parking spaces on the plans. Then the underground AKA underwater parking is in complete violation of the Highland LAW. Rockaway has the law on its side.
Last night the new theaters were approved --the number are of interest there are 16 theaters with 3400 seats - with nearly 900 new parking spaces and access to 600+ spaces near Sears (these are the closest to the theaters) and about 2500++ additional spaces in the rest of the mall. The theater claims that "max" they have 60% capacity at one time. The theaters will also be setting there schedual so that only 60% capacity is the max - of further interest is that movies run for hours far past the close of the mall - thus limiting congestion. Also note the mall is not in on wetlands and the roadways are designed to handle large numbers of cars. Oh there is no underground parking and NO parking decks.
Good night,
Lisa
__________________
The truth wins out over slick PR and personal attacks.
The Christ Church Plan for the redevelopment of 140 Green Pond Rd is just too big for the area.
I am guessing that the design firm has been working on the revised version (plan B) long before the June meeting. Five or so weeks to research, create, review then submit a new plan of this magnitude.... I don't think so. Ireland had Plan B in his back pocket the whole time. Just another one of thier tranparent tricks.
