Homeowners sue over med. office building plan

Homeowners sue over
med. office building plan
By vincent todaro
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK — A radiology office building and VFW post approved for construction on Cranbury Road may have to wait until a lawsuit from neighbors is resolved.

The Colonial Oaks Village Property Owners Association has filed suit against the Zoning Board of Adjustment to stop the development. Earlier this year, the board granted a use variance to Diversified Equities and Management Co., which wants to replace the existing VFW Post 133 building on the site and build an adjacent building to house University Radiology Group offices.

Residents of the nearby Colonial Oaks housing development fought the application during several Zoning Board hearings, arguing the new complex would increase traffic in their development, present safety concerns on the roads, and generally have a negative effect on quality of life.

The applicant denied those allegations, arguing that the veterans deserve the new facility, which will be more suitable for people with disabilities, and that the radiology office will provide state-of-the-art medical services to residents. Overall, the applicant argued that it would be a beneficial use of the property, which is zoned for residential purposes.

Under the plans, the veterans group will sell Diversified Equities a portion of the 2.89-acre property, which is located at Evergreen Boulevard and Cranbury Road. The developer will demolish the existing VFW building and replace it with a smaller one of about 4,500 square feet at the rear of the property. The developer will build a 20,295-square-foot medical office facing Cranbury Road.

In addition to the Zoning Board, other defendants in Colonial Oaks’ lawsuit are Diversified Equities and Management Co., and the VFW.

Michael Scharf, a Colonial Oaks resident, said the plaintiffs want to stress they have no problem with the VFW organization, and that the suit is based on quality of life, safety and zoning concerns.

Colonial Oaks argues in the suit that the township’s land use policies are designed to retain the "neighborhood character" of the residential area. Their complaint refers in part to a 1977 master plan "town green" study that recommended that any property in the "town green" area, around Rues Lane and Cranbury Road, have limited commercial expansion.

The suit also refers to the 1990 master plan, which designated the area for single-family residential homes.

"Construction of a 20,000-square-foot office building will interfere with the preservation of the established residential areas surrounding the property," the suit contends.

The suit also notes that medical office buildings are "expressly prohibited" in the R-2 residential zone.

Zoning Board Attorney Gary M. Schwartz acknowledged that medical office buildings are expressly prohibited in the area, but said that is why the applicant was required to convince the board to grant a use variance for the property.

"They showed special reasons for the granting [of the variance]," he said, explaining that the neighborhood’s character has already changed.

Schwartz referred to numerous lengthy hearings involving expert testimony on the plans.

"They did prove to the board special reasons [why it should be approved], and that no substantial detrimental effect to real estate values or to the zoning plan [would occur]," he said.

Colonial Oaks’ lawsuit, however, argues that the applicant failed to prove there would be no negative effect on adjacent properties.

One major issue that upset Colonial Oaks residents was the proposal to have a point of entry from the property in question onto Evergreen Boulevard, which abuts the condominium development. Residents argued this would bring more traffic into the development, which has narrow streets and cul-de-sacs. It would also create safety problems for area children and others who walk on Evergreen

Boulevard, which has school bus stops, residents say.

Colonial Oaks, in its lawsuit, notes that the Planning Board banned all access from the property to Evergreen Boulevard in a 1992 resolution, but that the Zoning Board went against that ban.

The access point in question is an egress from the property onto Evergreen Boulevard.

During the hearings, the applicant’s plan was modified to allow only right turns out of the property so that drivers could take Evergreen to Cranbury Road.

The lawsuit says that referring to the medical facility as an "inherently beneficial use" has no basis in law, and that the applicant never met the criteria needed to get variances.

It also says that there are already three similar radiology offices in East Brunswick.

Colonial Oaks claims the applicant failed to meet the requirements of the use variance in part because it did not prove the property is well-suited for the medical building, that there is a need for it, that the site cannot be reasonably used for permitted uses in the R-2 zone, or that the medical building could not be located in a zone where it is a permitted use.

The suit asks that the court overturn the board’s decision to grant the applicant approval, and also asks for attorney fees and other legal costs.