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Board to appeal Wachovia decision
(by Megan Burrow - September 16, 2008)
The Westwood Planning Board has decided to appeal the Aug. 8 judgement by the Superior Court of New Jersey that overturned the board’s decision to deny an application by Wachovia Bank to build a full service drive-through bank in the borough’s central business district.
In April of 2007 the board voted 5-4 to reject Wachovia’s application after several changes to the original site plan, which proposed a bank building, a full service drive-through, one automatic teller machine, one bypass lane and parking spaces in place of the existing non-conforming structures at the site. The next month the Westwood Borough Council adopted an ordinance that had been in discussion at the same time the bank initially filed its application, prohibiting drive-through banks in the central business district.
Since first filing the development application with the board in November 2006, Wachovia had negotiated an easement, allowing the borough to use a portion of the bank’s property for public parking in order to obtain the variances the project needed to proceed.
The board was disappointed in the court’s decision, said Planning Board Chairman Jaymee Hodges. “It’s upsetting. We’re appealing the court’s decision because we feel as though we acted appropriately in our decision to reject the application.”
According to the court opinion by Superior Court Judge Menelaos Toskos, the board’s decision was “unsupported by any competent testimony or evidence in the record to rebut the position advanced by Wachovia’s experts.”
Hodges said the judge felt the board acted arbitrarily, but after months of testimony, officials felt they had made the right decision.
“We did not act in any fashion. This is the largest piece of property in the central business district. I don’t care if we have 100 banks in town. It’s a free market and a free country. But a parcel of this size needs more than just a bank and some parking. It needs some pedestrian activity. We’re not trying to drag this out, but we’re trying to make the right things happen.”
John Pratico, a part owner of Valley Ford since 1975, the property which is in dispute, has been frustrated by the slow pace of the application and says the amount of time it has taken has become burdensome. “We closed with Wachovia Oct. 1, 2006. If they do appeal this thing it’ll be a waste of more time and more taxpayer money. I don’t think it’s fair to the citizens of Westwood.” He said that it has been “a killer, debt-wise” and that he has been doing driveway work just to get by and “keep my head above water.”
The case will now be remanded to an appellate court.
Megan Burrow's e-mail address is burrow@northjersey.com.
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