Butler's saltwater brine keeping streets clearer during snowstorms

There’s a reason the streets have seemed clearer after this winter’s snowstorms, said Borough Administrator Jim Lampmann, and it comes in the form of the gallons upon gallons of brine that Butler is now spreading along its streets.

The saltwater solution is created in-house by a system built for under $4,000 out of an old pool filter and five 275-gallon totes bought from a company that used them for dyeing landscape mulch, Lampmann said.

The process is relatively simple: Over the course of an hour, water is shuttled back and forth between the units and eventually reaches the 23 to 25 percent salt content that has proved so effective at keeping the streets from freezing. From there, it’s loaded into a tank and spread on the town thoroughfares.

The brine has been particularly helpful during the recent spate of light snowstorms that last for several hours but end with little accumulation. Fewer salting crews are called in, he said, and the total amount of salt used has been cut by as much as 20 tons (the borough typically uses 50 to 80 tons during a typical weather event.)

"The big key we find is that it prevents the snow from hard-packing to the surface, so when you’re coming around and plowing, (the snow) breaks loose and you can push it," he said. "It really works out well."

The program, which has been used in other local towns like Pequannock for several years, is in its first year in the borough and has been considered a success.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

Butler council mulls new proposal for Argonne Woods development

BUTLER - In another sign that the struggling housing market continues to take a heavy toll on developers, the owners of the still-under-construction Argonne Woods development on Route 23 are seeking to finish out their project by building rental apartments instead of the originally planned-for townhomes.

Mounir Badaan, CEO of property owner Badanco Holding LLC, appeared before the Borough Council with his son, Brandon, on Oct. 2 to present the revised plan, which Borough Attorney Bob Oostdyk said would likely require a zoning overlay before it could move forward due to apartments not being approved for the R-7 zone Argonne Woods sits in.

Much has changed since the company first got the approvals for the condo development back in 2005-06, Badaan told the councilmen, and the pool of potential buyers for the 2,800-square-foot, $400,000 townhomes has shrunk due to the economy.

Only 18 of the planned-for 69 units have been finished, and just 10 have been sold in the year and a half since their completion. Some of those have been sold for $50,000 under cost, he said.

"We are losing a fortune," he said. "It hasn’t been benefitting us and it hasn’t been benefitting the town… we’re just getting to be in a very bad situation."

Badaan asked the council for permission to finish out the second construction phase — bringing the total number of condos to 38 — but then change course and finish the project out with one- and two-bedroom, 800- to 1,000-square-foot rental units that would go for about $1,000 a month.

"Renting today is doing unbelievable… that’s what everybody’s looking for right now, and that’s where the shortage is today…nobody has $300,000 - $400,000 to buy homes," he said.

This would leave Argonne with a total of 90 apartments, which would raise the number of overall units to 128 but remain within the same physical footprint due to the smaller size of the floor plans.

Badaan’s son Brandon said that the three-story building would reach a height of 55 feet, 20 feet higher than the borough allows, and would require a variance. However, before spending an estimated $250,000 on new site plans, he said, they wanted to get a feeling from the council as to whether it would perform the zone overlay.

After a brief conversation, Councilman Bob Fox, the governing body’s liaison to the Land Use/Planning Board, suggested that he be allowed to bring the idea to that body and discuss it before the council made any decision.

The rest of the council agreed, and Oostdyk noted that with the increased density and zoning change, getting the board’s approval before borough officials put the effort into reviewing plans would be appropriate.

The Badaans concurred, with Mounir stressing the importance of being allowed to move forward with the new proposal.

"That’s the only way we’re going to be able to survive," he said, "because the way it is right now, it’s just bleeding and bleeding."

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

http://www.northjersey.com/news/173065901_Butler_council_mulls_new_proposal_for_Argonne_Woods_development.html?page=all

Butler Quick Chek controversey not a closed book

By Steve Janoski


BUTLER - When the borough’s Land Use/Planning Board decided to approve a proposal to build a Quick Chek convenience store/gas station complex on a sliver of land between Bartholdi and Boonton avenues back in June, it appeared that the final chapter of the 17-month saga of proceedings had been closed.

A new lawsuit appealing the decision has added another facet, however, and might give hope to the handful of residents who opposed the 12-pump, 24-hour station/store on Route 23 from the start.

The suit, which was filed in the Morris County Superior Court on Sept. 10, is being brought by Lafayette Avenue resident Janice Harper-Young, whose back property borders the site.

Harper-Young had testified during the proceedings that she believed her 19-year-old son, Ryan, who is multiply disabled and wheelchair-bound, would be adversely affected by the construction of the station/store, which would require 19 variances to build, and might force her to move from the house.

According to the court documents, Harper-Young is being represented by the Pequannock-based attorney Dave Dixon, who also represented Kinnelon resident Craig Brinster throughout the initial hearings. Brinster owns the 7-Eleven across Boonton Avenue from the Quick Chek site.

The suit names the Land Use board, the Borough of Butler, and Quick Chek as defendants, and alleges that Quick Chek "failed to present the required evidence to support the board’s grant of Preliminary & Final Major Site Plan, Conditional Use Variance, Use Variance, Bulk Variance, and/or Site Plan Waiver approvals."

Therefore, it said the actions of the board in granting site plan approval were "in all regards unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious, and unsupported by the evidence."

The suit also alleges that Quick Chek failed to apply for or give "sufficient, adequate, or specific notice" of either its variances or the "substantial changes" made to the application during the process, and it charges the Borough Council with changing the local zoning ordinance without giving the correct notice to the affected neighbors.

As a result, Dixon said in a phone conversation, he feels the notices were "defective and didn’t properly apprise the public to the nature of the application."

The attorney admitted that these were mostly procedural issues, but said that "if the court follows the law," it will be enough to send the case back to the Land Use/Planning Board for a re-hearing.

"I honestly believe that there were insufficient proofs to grant the variances, and there were procedural and jurisdictional issues that were raised that call into question the validity of the decision," he said, adding that he believes there to be a "very high likelihood" that the ruling will be overturned.

Quick Chek can begin building if it wishes to, but Dixon said to do so would be "at their peril" because if the ruling goes against Quick Chek, it would be forced to tear down whatever had been built.

Fred Azrak, whose Pequannock-based Azrak & Associates is representing Quick Chek, dismissed the validity of the lawsuit and said that he thought the case would be settled quickly and end in a ruling allowing construction of the store to move forward.

Attorney Peter McArthur, the lawyer from Azrak’s firm who presented Quick Chek’s case before the Planning Board, concurred. He said that Quick Chek would "vigorously defend the allegations in the lawsuit" and that he is "confident that at the end of the day, we’ll prevail."

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

http://www.northjersey.com/news/172593941_Butler_Quick_Chek_controversey_not_a_closed_book_ruling_to_be_appealed_.html?page=all