The North Bergen Board of Adjustment Wednesday night denied the application of the owner of two Tonnelle Avenue hotels, who wanted to have the land behind his businesses reclassified from commercial use to residential use in order to build seven homes in the condensed area.
The owner of the property, Ratan LLC, which owns two hotels on Tonnelle Avenue, including the new Comfort Inn Suites, hoped to have the land converted to residential use in order to build six two-family homes and a single one-family home. The property is located behind the hotels and directly adjacent to residents of Liberty Avenue, which is a dead end.
However, the Board of Adjustment, which had to approve the variance that would have permitted the project to be built, denied the application because they still had unanswered questions.
“Nothing they had was on solid ground,” said Maureen Canetti, a long-time resident of Liberty Avenue who helped organize action against the development. “One time they wanted eight two-family homes, then seven, then six two-family and one one-family. They couldn’t make up their minds. I think the board decided that there wasn’t enough there to allow the change from commercial to residential.”
There were other obstacles plaguing the planned project, like access to the proposed development from either Liberty Avenue or Tonnelle Avenue. Without approval of a possible entrance to the site from the state Department of Transportation, which is the only governing body in the chain of command that could approve the building of a new thoroughfare, the plan was essentially dead in the water.
“We’re all very happy that the board saw it that way,” Canetti said. “This was not something that was only going to affect the neighborhood right now. What about five, 10 years from now? We’ll still be here. What about that project? Who’s to say that what they planned would remain that way? It was zoned as a commercial property. Why change it now? We don’t deny the owner his right to build there. He just can’t put more homes there.”
George Parisek, another resident of Liberty Avenue who served as a voice of reason in the entire process, said that the Board of Adjustment seemed frustrated with the constant changes.
“They weren’t pleased with what was going on,” Parisek said. “There was too much discontent. They wondered about who was going to benefit from the project. It was loaded with variances and changes that needed to be made. They weren’t pleased and I’m very happy about that.”
After several meetings of discussions and debate, the Board of Adjustment denied the application almost unanimously, with eight votes against it and only one abstention.
Neither Canetti nor Parisek would say that the 25 members of the public present at Wednesday’s hearing influenced the decision by the Board of Adjustment.
“I think they heard our concerns and took it under consideration,” Parisek said. “I wasn’t looking out for George Parisek here. I was looking out for the community. I didn’t think this was a good project. I’m always looking out for the underdog. We live here and we didn’t like it. United we stand, divided we fall. We stuck through this together and it worked in our favor.”
The debate had been ongoing since September, since Ratan LLC, which did not return phone calls for this report, first brought an application to the Board of Adjustment to seek a change in the zoning. There were several changes and delays in the process, but now, the decision is final, unless, of course, Ratan LLC wants to re-apply with a different and new application and plan.
“They can re-submit another application, so we have to wait and see,” Parisek said.
Representatives for Ratan LLC told the Board of Adjustment that the proposed homes would have a sale value of approximately $400,000 each, but Board of Adjustment attorney Jack Dineen said that anticipated tax ratables did not come into play when granting the application.
“I think the board understood the concerns of the residents,” Dineen said. “They feel they made the right decision in denying the application.”