The builders of a proposed housing complex on the Tutor Time site said they will build a rain garden, add a buffer zone with plantings and use vegetation that is deer-resistant and helps absorb water to ensure proper drainage at the complex.

TMB Partners, the company seeking to build 62 housing units on the lot at 650 South Orange Avenue, outlined plans for the layout, drainage and landscaping of the project at a three-hour meeting of the Livingston Planning Board Tuesday night.

The proposal for 50 market-rate units and 12 affordable-housing units has been wending its way through the township for about five years and has been scaled back from its original proposal of 100 units.

TMB Partners, which is the project’s owner, needs a variance to build a taller retention wall and a waiver to lower the amount of evergreen plantings and replace them with other trees. BNE Real Estate Group is the project’s developer. Planning Board Chairman Peter Klein said the issue will also be heard on April 3.

Jonathan Schwartz, vice president for BNE Real Estate Group, said market-rate building will have two-bedroom condos and the affordable-rate building will have one to three-bedroom rentals.

Amenities include a pool, fitness room, media lounge, billiards room, library and open space. Schwartz said he was unsure what the price would be for ownership and rentals. 

If the project is approved, Schwartz said they hope to start construction as soon as possible and it would take two years to build the complex, "I think it's a great project for the neighborhood and surrounding area. It will allow people to scale down from the single family house to a flat, maintenance-free lifestyle."

However, the proposal has drawn protests in the past from the Livingston Short Hills Coalition and the Short Hills Association. 

There is also a lawsuit pending by TMB Properties against the Township of Millburn to get the township to work with Livingston officials to provide sewer and drainage for the property. 

Brett Carney, the attorney representing Millburn, questioned whether the project is following the best management practices for drainage. 

Carney said the project's wastewater plan does not conform with the county's management plan. He said part of the property’s drainage goes to Livingston and another part goes to Millburn and then on to a joint Essex and Union counties treatment plant in Elizabeth.

Carney said the plan needs to be amended to send wastewater to one location, and he questioned whether the project will use the best combination of drainage materials. 

Robert Podvey, an attorney representing a group of seven Millburn residents who live nearby, said his clients think having a large apartment complex next door will impact their "lives, enjoyment of property and lifestyle."

Podvey asked questions about the drainage proposal, the size of the trees that would be planted on the property and the lighting design for the housing complex. 

Project testimony

Gary Szelc, an engineer and planner working for TMB Partners, said the proposed housing site is 4.2 acres and was once location of the popular Don's Drive-in. It has a parking lot, a daycare building, a single-family house, a wooded section and a stream.

Szelc said the property currently drains directly into the stream and TMB Partners proposes to improve it by putting in a vegetative buffer zone and installing a rain garden by the buildings.

The project would have 121 garage-style parking spaces for the market-rate building and 24 surface parking spaces for the affordable-housing building. 

Szelc said the project would have a 150-foot buffer zone required by state guidelines though he did not find any endangered or threatened species on the property. At one point, the state Department of Environmental Protection reported Wood Turtles in a forest preserve just downstream from the building site, which would require the 150-foot buffer. 

Brian Conway, a landscape architect, said the project would put in more plantings than initially considered, and it would include many native species that absorb water and are deer tolerant. Conway said the company plans to swap out evergreens with other native plants to improve the habitat and diversity on the property. 

Attorney Richard Hoff, who is working for TMB Partners, said the project would have pedestrian and decorative lighting and the glare would be projected skyward.