Mayor: Area 5 Developer ‘Barely Halfway’ to Approval

The previously scheduled May 21 special meeting of the Fort Lee Planning Board on Tucker Development Corporation’s mixed-use site plan for the West parcel of Redevelopment Area 5 has been changed to June 4, according to Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich.

That announcement comes after one member of the Fort Lee Planning Board called Tucker’s architectural plans “discombobulated” at the third of four scheduled meetings Monday, and Tucker’s attorney, William F. Harrison, said the architect’s presentation had to be rushed, according to NorthJersey.com.

“I make excuses for absolutely no one,” Sokolich told Patch Wednesday. “I present applications as complex as they come for a living. But I’m going to tell you that sometimes, especially in the early meetings, it appears to be disjointed because there are so many moving parts.”

Tucker is seeking final approval of its plan for more than 165,000 square feet of retail space, a 175-room hotel, about 477 residential units and parking for an estimated 1,200 cars, but Sokolich said issues like parking, traffic and building height, among many others, have the potential to make such hearings complex and confusing, not only to members of the public, but also to board members.

But he also said that over time, “The parts are going to start to come together.”

“At least I hope they do,” Sokolich said.

The mayor had strong words for the developer of the roughly eight-acre western half of the long-vacant 16-acre property: “The statute is clear.”

“This redeveloper must meet the statutory muster and standards for site plan approval under the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law,” Sokolich said. “If he does not, it doesn’t matter what agreements we’ve negotiated with this redeveloper.”

He added, “You’re barely halfway through this application.”

Sokolich said he’s been before “hundreds of boards” in his day and said the Fort Lee Planning Board is “every bit as diligent as any one of them.”

“Sitting on this board, I’m proud that it’s my office that appointed these people because this is probably one of the most sophisticated, one of the most ethical and one of the most diligent boards I’ve ever had the privilege of experiencing,” Sokolich said. “If there’s a board that’s going to be able to get through this, it’s this one.”

He said the decision to cancel the May 21 meeting and move it to June 4 was a “mutual” one between the Planning Board and Tucker in part because limited testimony was scheduled for May 21, and in part because there was “a lot of information that’s been requested of Tucker.”

When the Planning Board does meet again—on June 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fort Lee Community Center—Tucker is going to present testimony regarding the economic impact of its portion of the development, Sokolich said, describing his gut feeling about the “Hudson Lights” developer’s chances for the final major site plan approval it seeks as that of “guarded optimism.”

“You will never ever, ever hear me indicate—either act in a way or not act in a way—that would leave anyone with the impression that I’ve establish a pre-disposition as to the outcome of this application,” Sokolich said. “Those proofs have to be met, and I can tell you right now that this sentiment is shared by every single one of the board members that I’m privileged to sit with.”

In March, the board of Redevelopment Area 5. , which the board approved unanimously, includes two 47-story towers with 902 luxury residential units, a 1.7-acre public park, a restaurant and a small movie theater, among other amenities.

Taken together, the two plans—Tucker’s for the West parcel, and FLRA’s for the East—are estimated to be about a $1 billion investment in the 16 acres of land just south of the George Washington Bridge that Sokolich has repeatedly called “vacant and fallow” for more than 45 years.

The borough has a documents repository on its website for both FLRA and Tucker.