"Clark Neighbors" Lead Fight Against Miele's Condos

From their homes on Lake Avenue next to , Marianne Disporto and Joyce Keller like seeing the multicolored fall mums, hanging plants and greenery that comes with the business that has been a good neighbor and maintained a presence for 103 years.

But with a proposed application , Disporto and Keller are sticking up for their street. Disporto, 57, has lived in her home on Lake Avenue for 17 years. Keller, 63, has lived there for 28 years. The duo has started a grassroots effort distributing fliers, launching a website, creating lawn signs, hiring an attorney and becoming the leaders for those opposed to the condo complex and the changes that come with it for Lake Avenue, their neighborhood and the town as a whole.

Their newly formed "Clark Neighbors" group consists of residents — many of whom also have homes adjacent to the Miele’s property – who are opposed to the condos for a laundry list of safety, traffic, environmental and aesthetic reasons.

The group's website states, "With so little greenspace left in Clark, do we really need multi-family housing on every available piece of open land? Or do we need to protect the value of our homes, the quality of our neighborhoods as they currently exist and keep the small town feel which brought us to Clark?"

“It’s not that we’re afraid of progress,” Disporto says. “But what’s progressive about packing more and more people into a smaller space? We moved here and bought our houses so we could live in a suburban area with quiet streets and nice yards.”

"And is there really a need or demand?" adds Keller. "We've got how many properties for sale in town already."

The first time the condo application was scheduled to be heard at a planning board meeting on July 7, so many residents had been galvanized that the meeting had to be rescheduled for a space that could accommodate all who wished to attend.

For Disporto and Keller, the absolute worst-case scenario if the condos get built goes something like this: 

• The development causes traffic and safety issues, and cars park on Lake Avenue because there’s insufficient parking within the property. They believe these issues are confounded by the blind hill on Lake Avenue and speeding cars. In their research, Keller and Disporto asked for a report from the police department about how many accidents there have been on Lake Avenue this year. Seventeen accidents were reported on that road in 2011, they say.

“I can’t tell you how many times it’s been right in front of my house,” Disporto says. “Someday someone is going to get killed. It’s a 25 mph zone, but no one does that. I swear I wish I had a radar gun.” Disporto points to She also took pictures of a traffic backup this month. (See photos in the gallery to the right of this article.)

But their concerns for Lake Avenue extend far beyond accidents. Some others they mention:

• Condo-owners bring in kids that will cause an already-crowded Hehnly Elementary School to become overburdened. They estimate 1.4 children per unit is how many new students will be added to the school system.
• Water runoff causes flooding, which, they believe, already is an issue because the property is situated on a hill six-and-a-half feet higher than the road and homes below.

Disporto and Keller also wonder whether the property will be owner-occupied or if the owners could rent their properties and, more importantly, how condos would affect their property values. They feel they should have been notified when the land and others were re-zoned for multifamily housing. They have more specific concerns – landscaping and fencing around the property among them – but these seem to be the most pressing.

The Clark Neighbors believe the application is further complicated by the possibility of low- and moderate-income housing units to be built on the property because of state-mandated requirements under the recently disbanded Coalition for Affordable Housing. Developer George Sangiuliano maintains that the township has authorized a waiver of these requirements, but the Clark Neighbors are skeptical that such maneuvering is legal, even with COAH in flux. This COAH issue was brought up at the Oct. 20 meeting, with planning board attorney Michael Cresitello asserting that the waiver (which requires developers to pay into the town's affordable-housing trust fund) is allowable.

"Personally, I don’t have an issue with the low income housing in there," says Disporto. "I’m not opposed to the project on that basis although some people are. It’s the density of the housing that they’re trying to put in – and the safety, traffic and environmental issues."

Clark Neighbors’ dream outcome? First and foremost, they’d like to see Miele’s stay — or at least continue operating as a greenhouse under a new tenant. To see why that dream is an impossible one, you have to

If Miele’s can’t stay, the Clark Neighbors would like a green space, and if not, then single-family homes. They realize their battle is an uphill one: Both of these options would require a re-zoning of the property.

Still, the Clark Neighbors won’t go down without a fight. “We have to stand up for ourselves no matter what,” says Clark Neighbors member Debra McLeester, who has lived on Lake Avenue since 1984. “At least the neighbors are aware now of what’s happening. And when the next election comes at least they’ll know who they’re electing.”

Though right now focused on the Miele’s application, the Clark Neighbors’ concerns are much bigger. They worry that Clark is becoming overdeveloped and about the future of other areas that are zoned for multifamily housing. They worry the on Madison Hill Road could have the same fate as Miele's because it is zoned the same way. The grassroots group put this information on one of its fliers, which outraged fourth-ward councilman Brian Toal, who claims he received calls from the Schiefersteins saying that customers were asking if they, too, were sold, which in turn was causing them to lose business. (See the video in our gallery, above.)

Toal isn't the only councilmember the Clark Neighbors have heard from. At a July council meeting, Councilwoman Sheila Whiting spoke about her encounter with a woman distributing Clark Neighbors' fliers and how she disputed the claim that low-income housing would be part of the project.

“I told the woman that there was a plan in motion to take the low-income housing out of the application and there are 39 townhouses being sold at $400,000 a piece,” said Whiting during the meeting. “We don’t want to build things that are going to upset anyone, but I sure don’t want anyone walking door to door giving folks misinformation." (See the video in our gallery, above.)

But the Clark Neighbors certainly have plenty of people who agree with them. In fact, there are 77 of their signs dotting lawns around town and they've had to order more. Their contact list is more than 200 names long and continues to grow. They've launched a Facebook page (it's already garnered 156 fans) and they claim their website is getting more and more traffic.

"Some of the people who have most recently contacted us are very concerned and want to help spread the word," says Disporto. "Many of the comments we received expressed the idea that the board was just going through the motions and they were not willing to listen to our concerns. In this regard, we want to educate the audience about the process that the board must follow, and let them know that there will be a time when we will be able to voice our concerns."

Disporto and Keller say the Oct. 20 meeting didn't alleviate any of their worries and instead, raised more questions. They are especially concerned about the condos' construction that is expected to take at least two to three years, according to an estimate from project engineer Ed Dec. 

Clark Neighbors were pleased with the large turnout at the latest meeting, but hope even more will attend the next one on Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Arthur L. Johnson auditorium. That meeting will feature testimony from developer George Sangiuliano and allow for further questions from the public.

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This is the second post in our series. Read our first story, and check back next week for interviews with developer George Sangiuliano, Mayor Sal Bonaccorso and others. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be sure you don't miss the next installment.