Zoning Board Still Considering Mountain Way Development

The Parsippany-Troy Hills Zoning Board of Adjustment continued hearing testimony for a proposed townhouse development on Mountain Way at its Wednesday night meeting.

Licensed planner David Zimmerman testified in front of the board on behalf of resident Rick Jilleba, who heads Preserve Mountain Way, a group of citizens opposed to the townhouse plan.

After hearing testimony from Zimmerman, Board Chairman Robert Iracane decided to carry the hearing to the Nov. 16 meeting, to allow the developer's attorney Robert Garofalo a chance for rebuttal, as well as to give concerned residents a chance to voice their opinions on the proposed development.

Topics focused on during Zimmerman’s hour-long testimony included a prepared illustration that showed the subject property as proposed by the applicant, used to demonstrate the proximity of the development to current single-family homes. According to Zimmerman, certain townhouses would sit within 45 feet of homes on one side, and as close as 25 feet on another.

“Given the height of the townhouses, given the height of the evergreens being proposed, in my opinion, the house on lot six will have a preeminent view of the subject townhouses,” Zimmerman said. “No longer will they be able to enjoy the company of a single-family home on the lot next door, now they will have to look out on townhouses. And there’s no way that 6- to 8-feet-tall evergreens are going to provide any degree of buffering, visual or otherwise, to the single family home on lot six.

“The property does have the characteristic of having wetlands in the front, so the front area will remain in its natural state,” he continued. “But there are no evergreens there at the present time, so during the leaf-off periods of the year, the townhouses that face Mountainside, are going to be eminently visible to the traveling public and to the neighborhood.”

According to Zimmerman, the most recent information dates back to a 2000 census, which occurred during the building of the Glen Rock development. Zimmerman estimated that with only half of the townhouses completed at that time, Parsippany had nearly 1,130, the second highest amount in Morris County.

“Parsippany is certainly doing more than its fair share in terms of providing for a variety of housing, [including] townhouses, in the municipality,” Zimmerman said. “My conclusion is there’s no shortage of townhouses in this municipality. Frankly, I’ve probably left out some developments that have been placed between 2000 and 2010.”

With so many townhouses already in the area, Zimmerman turned his focus to the number of single-family homes in Parsippany. During the 2000 census, Zimmerman explained that the township had a 56.3 percent single-family home average, which was far below the 69.3 percent average in Morris County.

“I think the need in Parsippany is for single family housing, not for townhouses,” Zimmerman said. “In comparison to the county as a whole, Parsippany has less percentage-wise single family homes.”

Zimmerman brought to the board’s attention an excerpt from Parsippany-Troy Hills’ master plan that assessed just 15 lots, totaling 112.44 acres available for subdivision.

“Their finding was that there’s scant land in this large municipality that has subdivision potential for single-family housing, as that land is zoned,” he explained. “The applicant, in my opinion, has not presented any credible evidence that there is a need for townhouses or attached single-family housing.”

Because Zimmerman’s testimony took up most of the backend of Wednesday’s meeting, concerned residents will be given a chance to voice concerns at the Nov. 16 meeting.

The next scheduled meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment is for Wednesday, Oct. 5.