The ‘Superdome’ in Waldwick, N.J. (File Photo)
Brick is one step – a large one, officials say – closer to beginning the redevelopment of the former Foodtown site on Route 70.
Mayor John Ducey said at a township council meeting Tuesday that the state Department of Transportation has no objections to the site being redeveloped, meaning there will not be a need for lengthy reviews or redesigns of area traffic that will need to be completed. One additional state agency, the Department of Environmental Protection, must sign off the project’s site plan before it goes back in the hands of the municipal government.
The process of creating the site plan, which will be submitted for approval under the state’s Coastal Areas Facility Review Act, will now be able to get underway, Ducey said. Both developers – one, Jack Morris, who will develop retail and a restaurant space, and another, a company that operates sports “domes” – will have to develop the plan.
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“The two parties have to get together and do a final site plan because they have to delineate some shared parking and where drainage will go,” said Ducey.
Ducey was pleased that NJDOT got to the application in a timely fashion, as some at town hall estimated it could take up to 24 months to receive a decision. But the state agency was ultimately in agreement with the township traffic engineer’s report.
“The traffic study showed that the prior use, a Foodtown and Bradlees, would produce more traffic than the proposed use,” Ducey said.
