Planning Report Zinnia Health West Orange NJ

Planning Report – Zinnia Health November 8, 2024 33 Mount Pleasant Avenue, West Orange NJ John McDonough Associates, LLC Land Use Planning · Landscape Architecture 4 101 Gibraltar Drive, Suite 1A, Morris Plains, NJ 07950 · Phone: 973.222.6011 · Fax: 973.786.6537 The project satisfies the statutory negative criteria for grant of “d(1)” relief because such relief can be granted without substantial detriment to the public. The applicant will provide testimony as to operational and site management aspects of the use, to affirm that the site will flow, function, and operate safely, securely, efficiently, and comfortably, in accordance with regulatory requirements, health codes, and building codes. The use is compatible with the mixed character of the area since it retains the existing build-out and delivers a health care use on a site that has historically been associated with health care use. In addition to the above, relief can be granted without substantial impairment to the zone plan because the use is akin to many of the medical uses that are permitted in the OB-2 zone. The degree of departure from the zone plan is not substantial. “d(3)” Conditional Use Relief If the board interprets that “d(3)” conditional use relief is required because the application does not meet one or more conditional use standards for a long term-residential health care facility, the application satisfies the statutory criteria for such relief established by N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70.d.(3) and the New Jersey Supreme Court in Coventry Square, Inc. v. Westwood Zoning Bd. Of Adjustment, 138 N.J. 285 (1994) and TSI East Brunswick v. Zoning Bd., 215 N.J. 26, 45-46 (2013). The standard of proof for conditional use relief is distinctly different than for a non-permitted use. The court in Coventry clarified the statutory positive criteria, such that the use per se is not at issue and the more stringent Medici standard of site suitability does not apply. The court in TSI clarified the negative criteria, to the extent the enhanced Medici burden of proof as to reconciliation of the omission of the use from the zone does not apply, since it has already been established that the use is appropriate for the zone. Thus, the focus is on the impact of the deviations, not the use, and the statutory test for “d(3)” conditional use relief is significantly more relaxed than “d(1)” relief. The statutory positive

zone. Thus, the focus is on the impact of the deviations, not the use, and the statutory test for “d(3)” conditional use relief is significantly more relaxed than “d(1)” relief. The statutory positive criteria are satisfied for the same reasons as the “d(1)” relief set forth above, i.e. the project delivers a beneficial use that serves the general welfare and entails efficient adaptive reuse of a former nursing home. The statutory negative criteria are satisfied because all the conditional use standards are bulk controls and the application is taking the site “as is” so any bulk deviations are existing conditions that are not changing or worsening as a result of the application. Therefore, conditional use relief can be granted without substantial detriment to the public and without substantial impairment to the zone plan. Permitted Use If the board interprets that the use is a permitted use or a permitted conditional use, then the application only requires site plan approval if it is not exempt from site plan approval altogether. The site is an established approved site which implies that it has been designed in accordance with sound site planning and design standards in terms of access, circulation, parking, utilities, grading, drainage, erosion control, landscaping, lighting, and signage, and in terms of building design, orientation, and positioning.