Planning board accepts Sammis Farm concept proposal

VERNON-At a June 22 meeting, the planning board agreed to accept the preliminary concept plan of Crystal Springs' Sussex National branch to build two hotels and a recreation complex on the Sammis farm property located on state Route 94. With the resignation of board chairman Douglas Castellana, board member Mark Vizzini acted as chairman pro tem. By consensus the board members agreed that the application was adequately complete on the essential issues to merit acceptance of the concept plan. Alternate board member John Logan cast the only dissenting vote. The former township mayor said that planning board engineer Thomas R. Lemanowicz's 12-page list of questions and concerns ought to be evidence enough to delay the board's approval. Logan noted that the incomplete storm-water draining plan alone was sufficient reason to withhold immediate approval. The engineering report cited a requirement to make major revisions to the existing plan in light of the new storm-water management rules. Logan also remarked that Lemanowicz had recommended that the board withhold approval until the developer could address the salient technical issues. Among the many other items Lemanowicz noted as requiring additional information from the developer were the height dimensions of one of the buildings and an official sealed landscaping plan that considered the Highlands constraints on taking down trees of significant size. "Do we want to push forward with a grossly incomplete application?" Logan queried. He also said he was troubled about proceeding without board attorney Stuart Koenig, who was absent from the meeting. But board member and Mayor Ira Weiner reflected the majority opinion in instructing developer Andrew Mulvihill to tell the board and the citizens what he planned to do, rather than focus on concerns about specific engineering details. "The concept has changed quite a bit from the first time you submitted. For the public record, what are you planning to do? What do the buildings look like, what are you doing, what is the vision?" said Weiner. "Give us an overview and come back another time to discuss the engineering issues that must be resolved." Accompanied by attorney M. Richard Valenti and engineer Kevin Wynn, Mulvihill presented a PowerPoint slide show in which he described the proposed development. Planned are two resort hotels: a high-end, upscale, 30-suite boutique hotel that would include four 691 square-foot one-bedroom suites, and twenty-six 600 square-foot one bedroom rooms, and a 125-room sports-themed hotel. The larger hotel would include eight 900-square foot VIP suites, 82 638-square foot one single bedrooms and 35 341-square foot studios. The hotel exteriors would be of California cultured stone, stucco, and dimensional shingle and would be trimmed in copper and heavy timbers. Also included in the plan are a 40-seat, full-service restaurant, a gift shop, and a 40,000 square-foot recreation complex, which includes two soccer fields and two swimming pools (indoor and outdoor). Mulvihill said he plans to preserve more than 30 acres of the property - over 50 percent n as open space, and intends to farm a portion of the land. Although one resident said he was worried that the hotel would generate increased congestion on Route 94 and on nearby Routes 515 and 517, Mulvihill said that because hotel guests would be coming and going against traffic, congestion should not be a problem. He also mentioned the shuttle service the hotels would offer guests who wanted to participate in local activities. The $30,000,000 complex would bring Vernon a little under $800,000 in tax revenues, Mulvihill noted. "Now I have a good sense of what you are trying to accomplish," said Weiner. Referring to other former Mulvihill properties that had gone into bankruptcy, Logan asked Mulvihill about his plans for reinvesting the properties long term. Mulvihill replied that the Mountain Creek spa is one project where the company has reinvested. "There was a time when the spa looked beat up, but we addressed it. Vernon probably was ahead of its time. Now, there's more for people to do. Maybe in 40 or 50 years the hotel will have to be knocked down." Vernon engineer Lou Kneip asked Mulvihill to bring material boards to the next meeting, and Weiner requested more information about buses and traffic flow for special events, tournaments and the like. At the end of the presentation Vernon resident Jessica Paladini alleged that Logan had attempted to influence board members against the Sussex National application. She testified that several E-mailed messages Logan had sent to others had come into her possession, the tone and content of which suggested that Logan had a conflict of interest. "I think he should do the right thing and step down," Paladini said. 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 review. "My intent is not to be subversive. The board has the right to object to a concept," he said. Landowner Gloria Sammis praised the development concept, saying that Mulvihill had presented a fantastic layout. "It will bring people to Vernon and help businesses all around. It is ratables," said Sammis.