County Planners advise against Sammis farm hotel complex

VERNON-County planners have weighed in on Andrew Mulvihill's proposed hotel development on the site of the Sammis farm, and they don't like it. Mulvihill came to the July 13 planning board meeting to continue his quest to win approval to build three hotels on the site of the farm on Route 94 opposite the southern portion of the Mountain Creek Resort. He brought with him architectural renderings of two of the hotels along with samples of the materials he intends to use on the exteriors of the buildings. Mulvihill has testified that the proposed $30-million development, which would be built by Crystal Springs' Sussex National branch, would generate nearly $800,000 a year in property taxes for the township. However, in a letter dated July 1, the Sussex County Division of Planning informed Mulvihill that the proposed development is not consistent with the designated Vernon town centers as approved by the State Planning Commission, nor is it consistent with the Sussex County Strategic Growth Plan. The growth plan supports Vernon's efforts to concentrate development in the town center areas to avoid "sprawl." The first phase of one of those areas is going up just up the road at Mountain Creek, where the first 100 units of the Appalachian lodge are nearing completion and foundations are being dug for 77 more units. At the other town center, that will go up along the west side of Route 515 from Route 94 at Church Street to the A&P shopping plaza, heavy equipment has begun construction on sewers and a new main street. The county's letter said that areas not located within the town center boundary will be removed from the sewer service area in accordance with the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection's approval of the Vernon township wastewater management plan in 2004, to which Vernon has agreed. The county supplied copies of its letter to Mulvihill, to planning board members and to the board's attorney, Stuart Koenig. "Their comments mirror the questions I raised early in this application as it relates to the purpose of the town center designation as a means of combating sprawl," said former mayor and board member John Logan. "I do not know what, if any impact the county rejection of this project will have on its viability, but I am not aware of any previous Vernon commercial projects being rejected at the county level." Logan has been critical of the project since it was first proposed. At the June 22 meeting, his circulation of E-mails about the project to board members was questioned by resident Jessica Paladini, who wondered about their appropriateness. Paladini called for Logan to step down because she thought the messages constituted a means of transacting board business outside the public purview and, further, that they suggested a prejudice on Logan's part against the Sussex National project. But Logan declined to step down without having board attorney Koenig's opinion, and countered Paladini's charge by saying that he had done no more than send a brief comment to board members and to the developer in response to the engineer's completeness review. Koenig was absent from the June 22 meeting. "My intent is not to be subversive," Logan said. "The board has the right to object to a concept." Sussex National attorney Richard Valenti remarked that the hotels are a permitted use in the zone, and the issue is whether the town needs more hotels. "If Mr. Logan can simply and disinterestedly apply the site plan to the application, then we have no objection to his remaining," Valenti said. Koenig stated that there was nothing inherently inappropriate in Logan's e-mailed questions to the planning board engineer, copies of which were furnished to Sussex National and to board members. "I don't think that one can construe comments in an informal meeting or message as being a conflict of interest," Koenig said. "Such comments are nonbinding. Hotels are permitted in the zone, and board members can apply the ordinance as written. The question of prejudgment is more to the point. The board has the power to remove a member who they feel will unfairly judge the process." Logan responded: "I am not concerned about someone's expressing the view that the ordinance is wrong. I've already approved a hotel from this applicant. I am able to judge this application fairly." The board agreed unanimously that Logan should remain. As proposed by Mulvihill, the complex would be oriented toward recreation and sports uses. It would include two resort hotels. One would be a high-end, 30-suite boutique hotel with four one-bedroom suites; and twenty-six one-bedroom rooms. The other would be a 125-room sports-themed hotel with eight VIP suites, 82 single bedrooms and 35 studios. Also proposed is a 40-seat, full-service restaurant, gift shop, and 40,000 square-foot recreation complex, which would include two soccer fields and both an indoor and an outdoor swimming pools. The complex would not be open for public use, except on a limited, case-by-case basis. Mulvihill also said he plans to preserve more than 30 acres of the property n better than 50 percent n as open space, and intends to farm a portion of the land.