From the Daily Record – June 4, 2009 (Written by Minhaj Hassan)

New Morristown condo building gets zoning approval

The zoning board of adjustment voted 5-2 to approve a 23-unit condominium building to be built on a vacant lot on the corner of Ridgedale and Lafayette avenues.

“I was pleased,” said attorney Martin Newmark, who is representing the project’s development company, Ridgedale Commons LLC. “I believed they would come to the right outcome and they did come to the right outcome.”

Developers Greg Pouliot and David O’Connell of Ridgedale Commons LLC sought approvals for a major site plan and dimensional variances to build the four-story, 41,000-square-foot condo building on a lot located directly across from the Mercedes-Benz of Morristown dealership.

Of the 23 units, 19 would be two-bedroom units and four would be one-bedroom, affordable-housing units, according to Martin Newmark, the attorney representing Ridgedale Commons LLC. There also would be 45 parking spaces underneath the building.

Zoning board members Craig Gilgallen and Chairman Tim Dougherty voted no. Gilgallen wanted to see two of the affordable housing units contain two bedrooms. However, Newmark said the administration should have the final say on how many and which condominiums should be designated COAH units, not the zoning board.

Newmark also said there was some discussion about reconfiguring the front entrance by installing a sidewalk that would go directly from the front doors of the buidling to a set of steps sandwiched between proposed decorative walls abutting Ridgedale Avenue. The original plans called only for a sidewalk leading to a blacktop area on the left side of the building.

Also, project officials will need to meet with town engineers to discuss where to place the garbage/disposal area. The current plans call for it to be located behind the building. Newmark said project officials will be happy to accommodate any recommendation made by town officials.

Those amemdments will be heard later this month by the board’s site plan subcommittee. Once that’s complete, Newmark expects shovels will hit the ground.

“After that, we will start building,” he said. Newmark projected it would take been nine months to a year for the building to be fully constructed. The start date should be some time in the fall, he said.