Saddle Brook Development Raises Flooding Concerns in Fair Lawn

A plan to build a new self storage facility in Saddle Brook next to the Fair Lawn border has borough residents concerned that the project could worsen flooding and create an eyesore in their neighborhood.

Fair Lawn officials said during a council meeting this week that they would send their zoning board attorney to represent the borough's interests during hearings for the project after residents asked for help.

Storage Assets, LLC has applied to the Saddle Brook Zoning Board for permission to build a 121,275-square-foot Lackland Self Storage facility at 635 North Midland Avenue, currently a pair of empty lots next to the Quik Chek. The building would be nearly 40 feet tall and include 967 storage units of varying sizes spread across three floors. There would also be U-Haul trucks parked there.

A rendering of the planned building can be viewed here.

Fair Lawn residents questioned the plan during a hearing in June and, at a Fair Lawn Council meeting this week, brought their concerns — that the increased coverage could worsen chronic flooding on Arcadia Road and that the building would tower over nearby homes, lowering property values — to borough officials.

Members of the Fair Lawn Council agreed to send Bruce Rosenberg, the borough zoning board attorney, to the hearings for the application.

"We want to make sure the rights of our residents are protected," Fair Lawn Mayor John Cosgrove said.

Lackland will need several variances from the Saddle Brook Zoning Board in order to build the facility, including one for the height and a use variance to allow the self storage and truck rental at the property, which is in a residential zone. They will also need permission to combine and re-subdivide two lots, one of which currently does not touch any road.

The hearing is scheduled to continue at the Saddle Brook Zoning Board's September 9 meeting.