While improvements at Windsor Plaza are progressing, the redevelopment of Ellsworth Plaza may be facing another hurdle. Through his attorney, developer Jacinto Rodrigues, owner of the blighted property adjacent to the Ellsworth Shopping Center, has filed a lawsuit against the Township of West Windsor and Sean Ellsworth claiming that the township Zoning Board did not have the authority to grant the D-1 variance and other variances requested by Ellsworth as part of his plan.
The D-1 variance was necessary to allow Ellsworth to convert two residential properties into a parking lot and a stormwater management facility. (The News, December 13, 2013). Rodrigues’ argument is that because the Ellsworth Center is in a redevelopment zone, the Zoning Board lacked the authority to amend the zoning in such a way because it drastically changes the uses of the properties included in that redevelopment zone.
“This lawsuit is important,” explained Surtees, “because it may have far-reaching precedential implications. In West Windsor, not only may it affect the Ellsworth redevelopment, but if Rodrigues is successful, the decision will impact the Zoning Board’s decision last month to grant a D-1 variance to the Artis Senior Living Center, which will provide residential housing for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.”
“Right now,” Surtees continued, “Rodrigues has not filed any sort of an injunction; only the lawsuit. So Ellsworth is not currently prohibited from going forward on his project.”
“Rodrigues has also filed his own site plan application to redevelop the back portion of that property, which he owns, and he has requested some of the same variances that Ellsworth had requested as part of his own redevelopment plan,” Surtees added.
In other news, energy company NRG has filed a site application with the West Windsor Site Plan Review Advisory Board (SPRAB), Sam Surtees said. “They will be building a 121,500-square-foot Class A office building at Carnegie Center West, on the northwest corner of Carnegie Center Boulevard and Route 1.” The three-story building will utilize solar panels and other energy-efficient technology. NRG will occupy the entire building.
The application will be heard at the next SPRAB meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. The next Town Council meeting will also be held on April 28, and will start at 7 p.m.
