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Executive Summary
The Borough of Essex Fells, New Jersey, has prepared a new Master Plan in April 2018. This plan provides guidance for the future development of the community and addresses challenges related to land use, housing, circulation, public facilities, recreation, recycling, design, historic preservation, stormwater management, environmental concerns, and carbon footprint reduction. It aims to maintain and enhance the Borough as a desirable place to live, learn, work, worship, and enjoy recreation for present and future residents. The plan identifies key issues such as the increasing scale of houses relative to lots, incompatible land uses on the edges of the community, increasing cut-through traffic, loss of trees, and the need to reduce the municipal carbon footprint. Goals are expressed in the form of necessary responses by the community, the details of which are contained in the elements of the plan. It projects needs and resources of a strong residential community going forward for a period of at least 10 to 25 years.
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--- Document: 2018 Master Plan Document --- Master Plan 2018 Borough of Essex Fells New Jersey And the Planning Board of Essex Fells: Edward A. Davis, Mayor / Member Edward P. Abbot, Past Mayor Prepared by: Robert W. Burchell, Ph.D., P.P. Megan L. Saunders, M.C.R.P. Mark Russo, M.C.R.P. Robert W. Burchell, Chair / Member Theo Polack, JD, M.C.R.P. William Bloom, Vice Chair / Member William Dolphin, MA Jody H. James, Secretary / Member Rutgers University Prepared For: Borough of Essex Fells Patricia Wahl, Council / Member Edgar G. Kaup, Member Roger Kerr, Municipal / Member 255 Roseland Avenue James Irwin, Alternate Essex Fells, New Jersey 07021 Peter S. McMullen, Alternate The original of this report was signed and sealed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 45:14A-12 Robert W. Burchell, Ph.D., P.P. #1463 Introduction Concepts: What Is a Master Plan? CONTENTS Master Plan-2018 .iii Prelude to a Plan: What Purpose Does a Master Plan Serve?. .vi Summary of Findings 1. Background ix 1 II. The Site of Examination: What Draws People to Essex Fells, New Jersey? 3 III. Problems: What Challenges Does Essex Fells Face? 5 IV. Goals/Objectives Related to Dealing with Problems 10 V. Notable Events Occurring within the Community Since the Last Master Plan 15 VI. The 2008 Master Plan Reexamination Report and Its Recognition by the 2018 Master Plan 22 VII. Elements of the Current Essex Fells Master Plan. 24 Goals, Objectives, Principles, Assumptions and Policies Element. 24 Land-Use Element. 25 Housing Element. 36 Circulation Element. 42 Public Facilities Element 44 Recreation Element. 48 Recycling Element. 50 Design Element. 51 Public Service Element.. 53 Historic Preservation Element 54 Stormwater Management Element.. 56 Environmental Element 57 Carbon Footprint Element. 60 VIII. Background Data upon Which the 2018 Master Plan Is Based. .62 Demographic Characteristics 64 Housing Characteristics 66 Socioeconomic Characteristics 74 References. 87 BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY Residential dwelling on Beechtree Lane Residential dwelling on Gordon Road ii BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY Master Plan-2018 INTRODUCTION As of spring 2018 in Essex Fells, NJ, the New York Region as well as the rest of the nation is almost free from the greatest recession since the Depression of the 1930s. About 9 years after the end of the Great Recession, the United States, the New York Region, and New Jersey are currently experiencing 4-5% percent unemployment rates with housing prices at only 85 percent of their value in the spring of 2007. Essex Fells has been relatively protected from the Great Recession due to the affluence of its citizenry, but signs indicate that the recession is also present in this small community. Some families have made early decisions to retire to warmer, less expensive places or to downsize locally or near their grandchildren. There are six houses in foreclosure in the Borough and houses from $1.5 to $2.5 million (the easiest houses to move in Essex Fells) are on the market and not selling. Two new factors also affect local property values: (1) Millennials dislike suburban living; (2) if they move to the suburbs they want transit; preferring rail and a downtown environment. Essex Fells is a suburban, rail-free location. Just as American families have seen their home values and incomes fall, local governments across the nation are struggling to make due with reduced budgets and limited resources. Municipal revenues in the United States are supported by their own sources (74%), particularly user charges (27%) and property taxes (25%). However, in 2010, states and localities suffered their first year of real property tax declines (3.0%) and third year of sales tax declines (6.6%) (Census of Governments, 2012). Municipalities and counties reacted to these declining receipts by cutting personnel, cutting key infrastructure projects, cutting all but basic services, and reducing cash balances. State and local governments, nationwide, eliminated 724,000 jobs from August 2008 to August 2010 (-3.9%). New Jersey, at the state and local level eliminated 20,000 jobs (3.7%) over the same period. Over the period 2010-2015, about 50% of those jobs have come back. Economic recovery remains slow as real estate markets regain inertia; consumer spending and wages are slowly coming back; unemployment is elevated but not high; and government budget shortfalls continue to be present but are not dominant. Looking forward, municipalities must continue to be mindful of nonessential public services and to meet the growing cost demands of public safety, planning, education, and interest on debt. Compensating measures have been taken by cities and towns across the country. New Jersey towns are being pushed to share services, and legislation has been enacted to encourage towns to consolidate. Public employee benefits are in a state of overhaul with medical costs likely to be shifted onto workers. In the years to come, New Jersey localities will continue to look at personnel and services to strive to balance budgets in times of uncertain revenues. Over the past several years the New York Region, New Jersey, and the community of Essex Fells have been through severe winters, wherein local (Essex iii BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY Fells) snowfall has exceeded 144 inches and the Essex Fells' Pond has been frozen over for at least 60 days-one of the longest uses of the Pond in years (2011-2012). The winter of 2016-2017 is the exception at the Pond with zero days of skating. During the winter months, Essex Fells devotes considerable resources to snow removal and salting/sanding its roads. In addition, potholes spring up throughout the Borough like dandelions on spring lawns. There is often no significant spring, and summer is haltingly here; with fewer days of heat/drought. When summer arrives, however, there is increasing activity in local pools; the flowers return to their summer home on the Pond; the Glen matures for next year's schoolchildren and visitors; the greens harden on the golf course, and the pebbles appear on the clay courts for those who engage in these sporting activities. Fall/winter in Essex Fells causes yellow oak and red maple leaves to fall from the 100 year old trees that line the streets, and the green on the Forsythia to turn causing the deeper green on the Rhododendron to be viewed, and the evergreens and box shrub that form the edging of local properties to stand out. Fall/winter heightens the rebirth of the grasses on the manicured front and rear lawns of the Borough and enhances the endurance of walkers, joggers, and bicyclists that dot Essex Fells streets. Fall/winter also brings us closer to the eighth year of a decade that continues the retiring of the baby-boomers and the quest for shelter of their children, Generations X and Y. Generation Z (from 2000- 2020) is just around the corner. Fall/winter brings us to a new year of the Essex Fells School and another round of overcommitted activities by the Essex Fells Public Works Department. Essex Fells is experiencing changes on its borders. New townhouses have grown up on land that was a treed buffer between Bloomfield Avenue and Fells Road. The North Caldwell jail is gone and in its place are additional condominiums and town homes. A large cell tower exists on the border with Roseland, and apartments, automobile repair shops and a strip mall line the border with Caldwell. There is still a desire to cut through Essex Fells when going elsewhere in West Essex, and this remains a significant issue with the emergence of GPS. Let us also not forget that change brings new, oversized private building additions/ alterations-most the result of tear downs; ever-increasing fences; new lighting schemes to threaten dark skies; and requests for pools and playing courts within the view of neighbors. One must be ready to welcome the new seasons with joy reflecting that a past season is over but also with the realization that the next season brings heightened challenges to be answered by the first new master plan in nearly 40 years and its derivative land use regulations. iv Master Plan-2018 CONCEPTS: WHAT IS A MASTER PLAN? A Physical Document A master plan is an official public document adopted by a local government that is a policy guide to future physical development of the community in relation to its social and economic well-being. It is based on studies and research of present conditions and prospects of future growth embodying both empirical research and a qualitative assessment of community experience (Cox and Koenig 2017). It is a guidance document from which regulations draw their direction and strength. A Process The master plan is part of a process of: 1. Studying what issues a commu- nity has faced and what it will face in the future; 2. Determining what its goals are and reacting to these goals as part of more precise master plan elements; (Weber, 2012) 3. Formulating strategies and rec- ommendations for implementation of the plan within the various elements. A Collection of Studies Background studies use data from the U.S. Census, the Bureau of Economic Anal- ysis, the Employment Security Administra- tion, and other sources (Soil Conservation Service, etc.) to determine the following: whether the community is growing in population or is in decline; what population growth or decline consists of change in household demographics leading to popu- lation decline, or actual household decline; whether there is change in the employment base of the com- munity and its various sectors; the existing composition and components of change of the community by age, race, income, and occupation; local congestion and traffic pat- terns; and whether lands are to be preserved rather than developed in the future. These studies enable the locality to determine what land, public facilities, and services are necessary to support future growth (Mandelbaum et al. 1996). Recommendations for Action Elements of the master plan provide specific recommendations about how partic- ular goals may be achieved. Elements are subject-based, and community goals either cut across numerous elements or involve less than a single element. A master plan of a city may have either a few or many elements. Which elements are minimally required is usually determined by state enabling legislation. Other elements are recommended, inferred, or mentioned in enabling legislation or its commentary. (Harris, 2008) In New Jersey, required elements are: (1) a statement of objectives, principles, assumptions, policies, and standards; and (2) V BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY a land-use element. Those recommended are a housing element and a storm water management element; those inferred are a circulation element, a public facilities element, and an environmental element (Cox and Koenig, 2017); those mentioned (outside of specific enabling legislation) are a design element (Congress of the New Urbanism) and a carbon footprint element (Regional Plan Association of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut). The Essex Fells Master Plan has all of the above contained within the elements. Comprehensive, Long-Range, and General A broad array of elements allows a master plan to be comprehensive. This means that the master plan deals with a significant number of substantive issues that bear on the physical development of the entire community. Elements also allow the plan to be long-range-10 to 25 years (Schultz and Kasen 1984). Specific, Concrete, and Illustrative Various recommendations of elements provide the substance of the long-range actions. These are the types of shorter-range activities (buy a fire pumper; refurbish a public building) to be accomplished to initiate and follow through on long-range objectives. The plan is general: it does not contain specific regulations but rather suggests directions for future action or amendments of existing regulations. The plan is illustrative of future actions to be taken across the community as a whole. PRELUDE TO A PLAN: WHAT PURPOSE DOES A MASTER PLAN SERVE? Coordinating the Actions of Government A master plan serves to coordinate the activities of local government. Local gov- ernment can and does influence the way in which a community develops. The local government is directly or indirectly involved in all aspects of the physical development of a community. It requires technical guidance in making physical development decisions. This guidance cannot be ad hoc or subjective; there must be a document that institutionalizes the basis of this guidance. The local government needs an instrument that provides long-range, general, and comprehensive policies, including specific recommendations that can be referenced in a continuing manner (Miles et al. 2000). This instrument is the master plan. Through the master plan, the community legislators (Borough Council) agree on both a coherent, unified set of general long-range policies and specific courses of action for the future development of the community. Thus, policies/actions include everything from the determination that action is neces- sary to the final decisions regarding what specific components of those actions should be (Goodman and Freund 1968). Basis of Forthcoming Regulations A master plan is also the basis for both existing and forthcoming regulations. Existing and forthcoming regulations are of two types (Hagman 1971): vi Master Plan-2018 1. Measures that are specifically designed to implement the master plan (zoning ordinance, subdiv- ision/site plan regulations, official map, capital improvements pro- gram, and so on); and 2. Other matters that routinely re- quire legislative approval and should be viewed in light of the master plan (zoning cases, permit and variance applications, street closings, and the like). In the first case, the master plan is guidance for the substantive understanding and adoption of regulations; in the second case, the master plan provides the context for other related community actions (Hoch et al. 2000). reader to important components of the plan. (Dunham, 1988) Communication and Education The master plan communicates to the general public the legislators' desired goals and directions for the community. It also communicates to surrounding communities and to higher levels of government the goals to which the community aspires. Further, the plan provides a wealth of background mate- rial that is relevant and unified. The form of the plan should be a com- prehensive, stand-alone document. It should contain photographs, maps, and illustrations and be easy to access and use. It should be attractive so that it will be read, and not forbidding or ponderous to navigate. The master plan should have a summary that accurately synthesizes what the reader is about to engage in and further directs the vii BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY Top: Below: The Green at Oak Lane and Wootton Road. Residential dwelling on corner of Gordon Road and Stewart Road. viii Master Plan-2018 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS T he following comprises the Master Plan for the Borough of Essex Fells, adopted by the Planning Board pursuant to the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law (N.J.S.40:55D). The objective of the Master Plan is to provide guidance for the future development of the community toward the best and most appropriate arrangement and use of land, in order to maintain and enhance the Borough as a desirable place for its present and future residents to live, learn, work, worship, and enjoy recreation. The Borough of Essex Fells is one of the smallest communities in Essex County, having an area of approximately 900 acres, or 1.4 square miles. It is located in western Essex County and is surrounded by the Boroughs of Caldwell, North Caldwell, and Roseland; and the Townships of Verona, West Caldwell, and West Orange. Essex Fells had a population of 2,153 in 2015. It has no office or industrial zones, and no shopping districts. Its period of significant development to a residential community began prior to its date of incorporation in 1902 and continued until the 1950s. At that time, the road network as it presently exists within the Borough was substantially completed. Now, 60 years following the completion of the Borough road system (1958), buildings are constructed upon substantially all of the building lots within the Borough, and its growth and development with respect to roads and structures appears to have been completed. Population within the Borough has been relatively consistent over the past three decades, yet the count of public school children has risen sharply during the period. These factors have led the Planning Board to the conclusion and assumption that the town may experience population growth but little if any household or employment growth. School growth will stabilize, but will be significant during the next 10 to 25 years. Issues Affecting the Community Essex Fells, as a developed community, is faced with challenges. These include: 1. The increasing scale of houses relative to the lots; 2. Incompatible uses on the edges of the community in other towns; 3. The proliferation of fences dividing properties within the Borough; 4. Increasing cut-through traffic and disregard of posted speed limits; 5. Dying and old trees being lost on public and private lands; 6. Loss of night sky from tree canopy lights; 7. Insufficient pedestrian and bicycle paths within the community; 8. Houses being positioned behind other houses when developed; 9. Unique/historic properties being lost; 10. Use of discordant building materials or structure finishes not in accord with materials/finishes used on other neighborhood structures; ix BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY 11. Increasing property illumination for purposes of recreation, security, and decoration; 12. Growing private recreational uses on-site; 13. Severe grading practices on indi- vidual lots; 14. Disappearance of accessory uses on larger lots; 15. Decreasing attention to environmen- tally sensitive areas that could be impacted by either inattention or proximate development; 16. Lack of significant reduction of the municipal carbon footprint as the community moves forward into the twenty-first century; 17. Increase in home occupations; and 18. Properties abandoned or in need of rehabilitation. The above issues are significant, re- curring, and must be addressed as the community progresses over the next 25 years. Goals to Address Issues Issues require necessary responses by the community. These are expressed in the form of goals and objectives (details of the goals). These include the following: 1. Enforcing the floor-area ratio (FAR) to keep houses in scale; 2. Joining in advisory extraterritorial zoning to participate in zoning decisions at the community's edge; 3. Encouraging landscaping and dis- couraging fencing that divides properties; 4. Keeping roads narrow and traffic speeds low to discourage cut- through traffic; 5. Actively replacing sugar maple and dogwood trees on public lands; Encourage new plantings on private lands; 6. Stopping and "sunsetting" tree canopy lights; 7. Creating a pedestrian/bicycle path within the Borough; 8. Discontinuing flag lots; 9. Instituting some agreeable form of historic preservation; 10. Having a voluntary design advisory committee; 11. Coordinating and minimizing out- door lighting; 12. Curtailing private recreational uses; 13. Stopping excessive grading practices on-site; 14. Re-creating limited accessory uses; 15. Establishing procedures to regularly address environmental issues; 16. Reducing the community's overall carbon footprint; 17. Enforcing restrictions on home occupations; and 18. Enforcing property maintenance requirements and encouraging rehabilitation of certain properties. X Master Plan-2018 Events Impacting the Community Significant events impacting the community have either challenged the Borough in its direction going forward or have reinforced the Borough's commitment to its direction. These include the following: 1. Dismissal of the condemnation ac- tion on the Northeastern Bible School tract (1995); 2. Renovation and refurbishing of the Essex Fells School property (1999); 3. Initiation and settlement of affordable housing litigation (2000); 4. Active enforcement and continued revision of the FAR provisions (2002); 5. Renovation of the Borough Hall property and the associated sharing of police dispatch duties (2003); 6. Loss of historic properties due to lack of broad-based agreement on how to protect them (2007-2017); 7. Extended hours for additional operations on weekends of the recreational facilities (2008-2018); 8. Zoning for and rescinding a cell phone tower on Borough land (2008-11); 9. Recreation structure built (2009); 10. Growing presence of home occupations (2009); 11. Storage/parking of excess vehicles; 12. Full time healthcare workers locally (2005-2011); 13. Superstorm Sandy (2012) and other significant weather events (2010- 2018), which caused extensive tree damage and power outages and led to a substantial increase in the use of generators; and 14. Death of resident while walking on Devon Road (2017). The above events become part of the mix of an environment wherein subsequent planning must take place. These events make planning in a community more challenging to achieve and certainly impact the predictability of contemplated actions. Elements of the Master Plan Planning occurs locally when individual elements of the Master Plan are created. These elements contain descriptions of what must be done in specific sectors of the plan to accomplish the community's goals. The goals are given specific actions within the various elements of the Plan. Essex Fells has the following elements within its 2018 Master Plan: 1. Goals/Objectives Element, which assembles the goals of the community as well as codifies assumptions about what community will be like going forward. the 2. Land-Use Element, which describes the nature of land use in the community and whether this will change over time. It also describes relationships between local, county, and state land-use objectives. 3. Housing Element, which projects growth in local market housing and xi BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY employment, as well as below- market housing, for a decade. 4. Circulation Element, which describe traffic issues locally and how congestion, cut-through traffic, and speeding can be mitigated. 5. Public Facilities Element, which provides a plan for the upkeep and maintenance of public buildings, public structures (water towers, pumping stations, aeration plants), public roadways, and public properties that do not contain struc- tures (recreation facilities, parks, open space). 6. Recreation Element, which pre- scribes activities necessary to maintain, expand, and better pro- gram public/private recreation facilities. 7. Recycling Element, which sets forth required actions for the Borough and its residents to comply with the State of New Jersey's recycling requirements. 8. Design Element, which establishes procedures that allow local citizens to participate in design recommen- dations for new housing. 9. Historic Preservation Element, which could be the basis for historic housing protection within the Borough. 10. Stormwater Management Element, which recognizes the procedures of the local Stormwater Management Plan and Stormwater Control Ordi- nance. 11. Environmental Element, which pro- tects the interstices behind and alongside properties, as well as significant environmental lands locally (Pond, Glen, Trotter Tract). 12. Carbon Footprint Element, to limit the Borough's private and public energy consumption over the long term. Characteristics of the Community and Its Population That Serve as the Foundation for Master Planning Essex Fells is defined by certain demographic, housing, and socioeconomic characteristics. These three main divisions serve as factoring agents to group descriptive data about the community. Demographics Essex Fells, in 2015, is a community of 2,153 people and 753 households, with an average household size of 2.89. Population is slowly increasing, reflecting smaller household size; households are slowly increasing reflecting decreased vacancies due to some seasonal residence and limited new construction. This pattern is likely to undergo change in the future. Housing In 2015, Essex Fells has 806 housing units, 97 percent of which are single-family detached units, and 98.8 percent of which are owner-occupied. Four percent of the units are vacant awaiting sale or seasonally occupied, and 0% of the occupied units are overcrowded. No housing units in Essex Fells have incomplete kitchens (e.g. a refrigerator in an alcove rather than in the kitchen) and only 3 housing units have incomplete plumbing facilities (e.g. shower not in bathroom). xii Housing is expensive in Essex Fells, with a median home price of close to $1,180,000 in 2017, and median rents in excess of $4,000 monthly. Socioeconomic Essex Fells' population is 92.5 percent white, 5.0 percent Asian, 1.6 percent "other" and 0.9 percent black. In 2015, 36.7% of Essex Fells' residents age 25 and over had a graduate degree; 69.4% worked as managers or professionals. 78.7% of those living in Essex Fells drove alone in an automobile to work. Essex Fells' population earned close to $172,386 in median annual household income in 2015; virtually no households (only 12 out of 753) were below the poverty level. There appear to be 3 federal government (U.S. Postal Service) and 70 local government jobs within Essex Fells. Private sector jobs not associated with residence amount to 15 or less. Conclusion The Master Plan for Essex Fells com- pleted during the spring of 2018 projects needs and resources of a strong residential community going forward for a period of at least 10 to 25 years. Both directions and courses of action are clear. xiii Master Plan-2018 Master Plan-2018 I. BACKGROUND T The report that follows is the Master Plan of the Borough of Essex Fells, New Jersey, as of April 2018. The Master Plan and its Land-Use Element form the basis of land-use regulations (in the Land Development Code) as well as specific land- use decisions, in particular decisions concerning variances. a The New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law, or MLUL (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-89), re- quires that at least every ten years, the governing body must provide for reexamination of its Master Plan and devel- opment regulations by the planning board, which shall prepare and adopt by resolution a report on the findings of such reexam- ination. The Essex Fells Planning Board has decided to prepare a new Master Plan due to the 40-year period since the last Master Plan (1978) was prepared. Reexamination of the Master Plans has occurred in 1984, 1992, 1999, and 2008. The 2018 Master Plan for the Borough of Essex Fells will follow both the basic requirements of MLUL for preparing a master plan as well as its requirements for periodic review. Accordingly, the report will contain: A. The major problems and objectives relating to land development in the municipality at the time of the adoption of the last reexamination report. B. The extent to which such problems and objectives have been reduced or have increased subsequent to such date. C. The extent to which there have been significant changes in the assump- tions, policies, and objectives form- ing the basis for the Master Plan or development regulations as last revised, with particular regard to: the density and distribution of popu- lation and land uses; housing conditions; circulation; conservation of natural resources; energy conser- vation; collection, disposition, and recycling of designated recyclable materials; and changes in state, county and municipal policies and objectives. D. The specific changes recommended for the Master Plan or development regulations, if any, including under- lying objectives, policies and standards, or whether a new plan or regulations should be prepared. E. The recommendations of the planning board concerning the incorporation of redevelopment plans adopted pursuant to the "Local Redevelopment and Housing Law," P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-1 et al.) into the land use plan element of the municipal Master Plan, and recom- mended changes, if any, in the local development regulations necessary to effectuate the redevelopment plans of the municipality. The Master Plan that follows attempts to discuss: (1) the nature of why people live in Essex Fells; land use and other problems facing the Borough; goals necessary to thwart these problems; events of the past that have altered the community; specific actions that must be taken in the form of the Elements of the Master Plan; and the socio- economic construct of the community. 1 BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY ESSEX FELLS 2 CECANDAM VERONA 3 Master Plan-2018 Essex Fells are between 50 and 150 years old; they are tall and provide a unique canopy to the housing stock. Another aspect of uniqueness of the community is the scale of its houses: they relate well to the size of the lots. This was achieved through good original design and planning; it is maintained today by one of the few residential floor-area-ratio (FAR) ordinances that exist in New Jersey. Residential dwelling on Gordon Road II. THE SITE OF E EXAMINATION: WHAT DRAWS PEOPLE TO ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY? ssex Fells is a residential community of 806 homes that were largely con- structed during three periods: the 1890s, the 1930s, and the 1950s. Prior to the twentieth century, 8 percent of the Borough was de- veloped. During the Great Depression and immediately before, 42 percent of the Borough was built, and during one of the most expansive growth periods-post- World War II to the 1960s-the remaining half was built. The northern and western sides of the community were built during the earlier two periods, and the southern and eastern sides of the community were built during the latter period. What characterizes the Borough of Essex Fells? First, its tree-lined, curvilinear streets connect to other streets. It's the best of both the meandering and the grid: its gently curved streets have a destination. For the most part, there are few cul-de-sacs within the community. Most larger trees in Walking path on the Trotter Tract Yet another feature of the community is its public and private recreation areas. Essex Fells has a pond, municipal fields, a nature trail, walking paths, a private swim/tennis club, and a private country club. All of these activities are fully subscribed. Some begin at 7 A.M.; others do not terminate until 11 P.M. The scale of recreation areas has increased over time, and so has participation. Another prime feature of the community is the Essex Fells School. The school offers Pre-K-6 educational services that are almost unparalleled in the state. The school is the focal point of a host of activities that include both parents and children. This is the site of 3 BOROUGH OF ESSEX FELLS, NEW JERSEY Fells Brook Club near swimming pool visiting lecturers or entertainment groups; until recently, it was also where the community voted. The Essex Fells School and its efforts have full tax and supplemental support from members of the community. Essex Fells is a safe community. There is a sense of community that imbues its citizens with a desire to become involved and be concerned about others. The community is small but efficient. You know your local police, and they know you and your family. You feel well-protected. You also feel a sense of relief and security from the teeming metropolis of which Essex Fells is a part. A final feature of the community is its population. The population of Essex Fells is both detached and involved. It is detached if Essex Fells remains as it is; it is involved if the community's ambience is individually or collectively threatened. The qualities described above attract people who choose to live in Essex Fells. They choose to move to the community for its residential character, tree-lined streets, fine education system, the safety and intimacy of knowing almost everyone, and the constancy of the community over time. The Essex Fells Master Plan is a document intended to preserve these values described above. 4 Master Plan-2018 III. PROBLEMS: E WHAT CHALLENGES DOES ESSEX FELLS FACE? ssex Fells' ambience faces challenges on a number of fronts. These are in no particular order and appear as follows. 1. The scale of housing on lots signifi- cantly larger than the minimum per- mitted in a zone, and in some cases architectural choices on building façades, fences, and driveways, are changing the look of the community. The residential FAR is barely able to control the scale of development on the largest of lots in a zone, and there is growing sophistication about how to circumvent FAR procedures related to half-stories and cellars. 2. The Borough of Essex Fells
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