Proposed apartment complex OK’d by Hamburg

After securing project approval from the Hamburg Land Use Board last month, representatives of the proposed Woods at Hamburg apartment complex will seek a similar outcome from Hardyston’s Joint Land Use Board on Monday, April 8.

The representatives are scheduled to present changes to the preliminary and final major site plans at that meeting, which will start at 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 149 Wheatsworth Road, Hamburg.

If approved under the current application, the complex - with four three-story buildings - would be constructed on Route 23 near Airgas and Penny Rock Estates. The complex would have 36 two-bedroom units.

The main part of the development would be in Hamburg, with a stormwater basin built directly behind the homes on Fairview Avenue in Hardyston.

Julie Lacatena, who lives on Fairview, has been an outspoken critic of the project from the start. Among other things, she is concerned that the stormwater basin will affect her backyard.

Fairview Avenue residents Maryann and John Jervis, who live right over the line in Hamburg, also are against it.

Hardyston Land Use Administrator Anne-Marie Wilhelm said the public will have an opportunity to speak about the project April 8, although she did not know whether the board will vote on the project then.

Multiple phone calls to Beattie Padavano, a lawyer representing developer SMS Hamburg, were not returned.

Dykstra Walker Design Group, a civil engineering, planning, surveying and environmental services firm involved in the project, declined comment.