At their regular Monday meeting on June 19th, township supervisors approved the request to sub-divide off the apartments from the larger Granite Ridge property. As noted by the supervisors, there were no grounds to disapprove the request as it met all requirements for a sub-division. They were very clear the move did not affect zoning in any way and the property remains R-2 Suburban Residential.
At the start of the meeting, during public comments, a number of residents voiced their concerns about the potential placement of the migrant detention center. Bill Unger, Granite Ridge property manager, was in attendance and responded to their comments and concerns. During his comments, he stated clearly they had no intention or desire to try working around the current zoning which does not allow the property to be used as a detention center. He also stated that Culmen International was now looking at other properties for that purpose. He said Granite Ridge was talking with other entrepreneurs and investors about potential uses of portions of the property.
The objections raised by residents and the responses by Bill Unger were very much in line with those previously heard.
Granite Ridge and the Ehrenfeld Companies appear to have disastrously squandered their initial level of trust within the community by proposing this migrant facility in the first place. It’s hard to understand what they were thinking. What could have and should have been a positive relationship is now viewed with suspicion. When Bill Unger again said in the Monday meeting they could not rule out this sort of facility at some point in the future, it gives everyone in North East ample reason to hold them at a distance and why simple requests for sub-divisions are resisted.
Jonathan Ehrenfeld, Bill Unger and everyone else involved in the property should sit down and rethink what they are trying to do here. Unless they want to face opposition at every turn, they need to say it’s off the table or they and the entire North East community can look forward to a long road where both sides are continually facing off against one another and that benefits no one. Our community would much rather work with the owners of Granite Ridge to build something positive for everyone and only Granite Ridge can make that happen. Will they? We’ll see.
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Risa says
At today’s meeting, the minutes of the June Planning committee meeting were approved. Upon review of the last 5 planning committee meetings, it seems zoning will be changed to mixed use, which appears to pave the way for migrant housing. Please go to the Township website, planning commission tab and review all minutes for 2023 and stay jnformed
Paul Crowe says
The minutes approved in the supervisors meeting are for the previous supervisors meeting, not the planning meeting.
Also, zoning cannot be changed without a long process of postings and public hearings. It doesn’t happen in a meeting.
Anonymous says
Exactly what does this mean for the residents of the apartments? Will it affect them in any way?
In the past week Bill has sent out emails to all residents saying on June 23rd he will be entering all apts for inspections. He has never done this before. Also, last week he sent emails requiring residents to sign back dated leases that he never sent out when they were due which was 6-9 months ago.. Any take on this?
Paul Crowe says
The sub-division should not have any effect on the apartment residents. Bill Unger explained it was done to satisfy the bank that did not want any other property attached as collateral.
It does make it possible to sell that parcel as a separate property, but since the apartment income is the one solid income source within Granite Ridge, it seems unlikely they would want to do that.
The lease renewals and apartment inspections seem like something that should have been a normal part of managing the property. Why now? Bill Unger will have to answer that.
Joan Bubna says
If you approve low income housing are they supplying more security for the area. Do any of you live in the area. Are you reassessing our property and school taxes??? Just remember we voted you in and we can vote you out
Paul Crowe says
This sub-division of the current apartments from the rest of the property has nothing to do with low income housing. Nothing else changes other than the creation of a separate smaller parcel from a larger one.
Mark Steg says
Although there were “no grounds to disapprove the request as it met all requirements for a sub-division” at this time, I would like to suggest that perhaps it’s time to review and expand the current “requirements ” .
Not condemning , but it seems that often these are overly focused on details , such as # of parking spaces per house , and etc, . These are important but miss the philosophical big picture , i.e. what sort of a community are we trying to build ? What do we want NE to look like – McMansions ? A New -Urbanist sort of look …what ?
And I apologize for posting this without actually looking at the current zoning regs.
Rodney E Blystone says
When some of the original information was released, it appeared that the property along Sunset Drive (my home is on the north side) was to be used as low-income housing. That portion is NOT zoned for that, indeed all of Sunset Drive is considered R-2, and would allow for duplexes. I believe this is because what is commonly called “Bemis” apartments (between North Pearl and Mill Streets was already in existence. The other lots along Sunset in the subdivision (South Shore Heights) all on the north side of Sunset Drive, are all single-family and the lots are too narrow to accommodate multi-family housing. This rule was enforced at least once in recent years when a neighbor (vacationing elsewhere during the summer) rented their house out to three college students (all girls) during the summer. A neighbor reported this and the girls had to be moved elsewhere because they were “non-related.” Note: I may have posted this elsewhere.