Zoning Board to hear app. for age-restricted housing Colonia residents signed petition against 100-unit project BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE - The Zoning Board will hear the hotly contested Mase Land Co.'s application on May 3 to build 100 age-restricted units on the current Rahway Bus Co. site on Inman Avenue at the intersection of Delaware Avenue. In January, more than 500 Colonia residents signed a petition opposing the application. "Inman Avenue can't handle any more additional traffic," said Pat Bonaventura, whose group, Concerned Citizens of Colonia, spearheaded the petition. "Their traffic expert expects traffic to increase by 2 to 3 percent," he said. "Even so, we can't handle the additional traffic. We're concerned about the children's safety. I've talked to the Parent Teacher Organization presidents, and they don't like it." Mase Land Co., which appeared before the Zoning Board three times on this application in 2006, proposed to demolish the existing two residential dwellings and the Rahway Bus Co. facility, which contains three buildings, and construct an age-restricted residential community consisting of nine multifamily buildings with a total of 100 dwelling units. Also proposed are a central clubhouse, a swimming pool, parking lots and stormwater control measures. The tract is located in the B-1 neighborhood business zone and the R-7.5 high-density single-family residential zone, and has frontage on Inman Avenue. The site also contains a 20-foot-wide drainage easement and a tract of wetlands, both present on the southern portion of the site. The applicant has revised its application to reduce the number of units from 162 to 100 units, and increase the number of buildings from six to nine multi-unit buildings. Eight buildings will contain 11 units each and one building will contain 12 units. Of the 100 units now proposed, 80 two-bedroom units would be market rate and 20 one-bedroom units would be affordable housing. The plan has also been revised to include individual driveways and garages for most units in lieu of a parking garage under each building. The height of the buildings has also been reduced. The nine residential buildings will be approximately 40 feet tall - 3.5 stories high - and will contain nine garage parking spaces. The 12-unit buildings will contain eight spaces. All parking spaces will be individual and will be directly accessible from the exterior of the building. Each building will also provide a single parking space stacked in front of the garage. Fifty-four parking lot spaces will also be provided. Bonaventura said the development will hamper the view of Melody Drive, West and Sarno streets, Rainbow and Lyric drives, Berdine and Rita courts, Lisa Rose Terrace and Courtney Lane, as well as residences on the other side of the Garden State Parkway on Cherbar, Jason, Lisa, and Kristin courts, East and Central streets, and Garfield, North Grant, and North High streets. "The development is not homogenous to our area," he said. "The area surrounding the proposed development consists all of cul-de-sacs. These condominiums in the community introduce the issues of added congestion, traffic safety, pollution, air quality, pedestrian safety, fire safety, burden of additional township resources, and lack of infrastructure." Joseph Burgis of Mase Land Co. had said the 100 age-restricted units would bring money into the township. "If 180 people reside in the units, $1.7 million will be spent annually in the community," he said. "This will benefit the community as a whole.