Planning Board to Review Master Plan, Rezoning of Brookchester on the Table

The New Milford Planning Board will be meeting to Tuesday to discuss the Master Plan with Borough Planner, Paul Grygiel. 

The Planning Board is gearing up for its 10-year review of the master plan due for completion in 2014. Master plans chart the course between where a municipality is and where it envisions itself in the future. Unlike a blueprint that is fixed, master plans are flexible guidelines that are adaptable to change.

Master plans designate the permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another. In reviewing the master plan, zoning can be amended to reflect potential changes in land-use.

Review of the Master Plan coincides with Joseph Brunetti's proposal to rehabilitate, replace and extensively repair approximately 750 units in Brookchester that front Boulevard. In the course of these preliminary discussions, Brunetti, the owner of the Brookchester Garden Apartment complex, said that he could cover New Milford's entire COAH obligation as it exists today --14 units as defined by the Fair Housing Council for the third round. 

However, the Brookchester property is zoned 'C' for garden apartments. At an earlier Planning Board meeting, Mayor Ann Subrizi recommended that the board, along with the borough planner, review Brookchester's zoning and consider amending it.

Brunetti came before the Mayor and Council in June to give an informal presentation and present a conceptual design of his plan to refurbish a number of apartments and replace 752 apartments with approximately 1000. 

According to the preliminary conceptual plans, the area to be rehabilitated and redeveloped is approximately 33 acres of land with 752 apartments built between 50 and 60 years ago. The plan calls for the refurbishing of some apartments and the new construction of rental apartments in a three or four-story complex with a buffer that contains a walking trail designed to benefit the entire community. 

Because the property is currently zoned for garden apartments, there would need to be a zoning change to accommodate the design, or variances would be needed from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. However, the Mayor and Council passed a resolution recommending that in its scheduled review of the Master Plan, the Planning Board take under consideration a zoning change for the Brookchester area. 

The area in Brookchester slated to be redeveloped and refurbished is the highest density property located the furthest away from single family residences.

The Planning Board will meet Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of Borough Hall. 

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