Borough Council Denies Three Conditional Uses Requested by O’Neill Properties for 619 Unit Apartment Community

During last night’s Borough Council meeting a vote was taken on three conditional use requests that were made by O’Neill Properties in regards to a 619 unit apartment community along the river front at 401-433 Washington Street.  Once the topic was reached on the agenda, Council President stated that he did not believe the plan was detailed enough to approve it.

O’Neill’s attorney, Edmund Campbell Jr., then spoke and said that Council had asked for a short presentation at a previous meeting and they believed they had provided sufficient details.  This is true, I was there.  But there were several items that O’Neill Properties was asked to submit further information on and it appeared these weren’t followed-up on to the Borough’s satisfaction, because Borough Solicitor Michael Savona ticked off about eight items that the Borough felt were left unanswered. Borough Council then voted 7-0 to not approve the conditional uses.

This vote doesn’t mean that O’Neill can’t built an apartment community there, it just means it has to resubmit plans and go through the process again.  McConnell admitted as much during the meeting by saying the property is valuable and it will be eventually be redeveloped.

O’Neill has also begun the approval process for another community at 51 Washington Street.