Save The Woods group gearing up to fight CHCC development

Dan Melfi holding up the CHCC development plans at a recent Borough Council meeting. Photo by Alan Ackerman

Save The Woods is the name of the group of Hawthorne and Wyckoff residents organizing to fight the proposed development by the Christian Health Care Center for an adult community project. About 90 people attended a meeting held Tuesday night at the Louis Bay 2nd Library to educate residents about the proposal.

"This is privately-owned property and they have a right to develop it," said Dan Melfi, one of the group's organizers. "We're trying to make sure they don't overdevelop it."

Steve Perretta, another of the founders, gave a Power Point presentation showing what the proposed 62.5 foot high building would look like from the intersection of Sicomac Avenue in Wyckoff and Goffle Hill Road.

Mary Mahon is the third founding member. She said the 19 acre site has 1800 trees and numerous kinds of wildlife that will be displaced.

The Christian Health Care Center has a complex encompassing 76.19 acres, mostly in Wyckoff. This proposed project for 258 adult residences will utilize 14.9 acres in Hawthorne and five in Wyckoff.

Melfi said, as initially designed in the plans provided to him, the building would total 203,632 square feet.

One audience member pointed out that this is the size of four grocery stores. The three-story structure has underground parking and will require 11 variances in Wyckoff and nine in Hawthorne.

The building will be 105 feet from my house," said Melfi, "When the CHCC built its assisted living facility, it had 230 foot buffers from the nearest house."

Among the issues that will impact the neighbors' quality of life, are traffic, parking, water runoff and increased flooding in Hawthorne

The group expressed their concerns at the June 6th meeting of the Hawthorne Council. Marian Caviani estimated that the complex would generate some 400 vehicles.

"It will create a gigantic explosion of density in Hawthorne," she said.

The plans show four lanes at the intersection of Sicomac and Goffle Hill. Residents noted that with Jefferson Elementary School located so close in Hawthorne and the Sicomac School in Wyckoff, the increased traffic could pose a danger for children, who walk to school.

"The bottom line is the whole project is irresponsible," said Shirley Vanderbeck, "It's not just in our backyards. The town belongs to all of us."

At Tuesday night's meeting, Perretta pointed to recent flooding conditions in the borough.

"Flooding is a problem that affects all of Hawthorne," he said. One of their photos showed the erosion of the Goffle Brook and the effect it is having on residents of Brookside Avenue.

Melfi said that the Wyckoff Fire Department had done an initial report expressing concern about the underground parking and if a car catches fire. Although the plans show no access via Hawthorne, residents feared that emergency access would be provided via Emeline or Highcrest Drives and this could funnel traffic onto local streets.

Another firefighting concern is the height of the building and the steep slope. It will be difficult to level a fire apparatus on a slope and Wyckoff may not have an aerial ladder truck capable of reaching that height.

With the complex split over two municipalities, residents questioned which jurisdiction would be expected to provide police, fire and ambulance services and wanted to know whether increased staffing would be required.

Melfi said that Hawthorne would probably be expected to sell water and to provide sanitary sewer connections.

With the ongoing construction of the Lafayette Hills project, residents sympathized with the plight of people in that area and the water runoff situation some are experiencing.

"The construction of the CHCC project is expected to take two years," said Melfi. "There will be a lot of dust and noise and water runoff."

The plans were presented to the Wyckoff Board of Adjustment in March but were pulled back after the board's engineer deemed them incomplete.

When Melfi asked about the application at the August 1st Hawthorne Council meeting, Borough Attorney Michael Pasquale stated, "I haven't heard of any hearings ... My understanding is that the plans are being re-worked."

Another unanswered question is whether the proposed residential complex will be a ratable. One resident said that all of the buildings in Wyckoff are tax-exempt.

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