Politics & Government

No Vote on Triboro at Mountainside Meeting

Contentious meeting offered no resolution.

No action was taken by Mountainside officials at last night's planning board meeting, leaving the proposed indoor sports facility on Sheffield Road unresolved. 

The proposal by Triboro Sports, LLC calls for a new indoor 80,645 square foot sports center to be built at 270 Sheffield Street in Mountainside. The sports center would include fields for soccer and lacrosse as well as space designated for retail sales and a café. The developers are before the board because Mountainside’s zoning ordinance do not specifically permit the construction of this kind of facility.

Springfield residents living nearby worry the facility will bring more traffic to their neighborhood, and that drivers new to the area will not understand the area's traffic patterns and regulations. The developers, meanwhile, contend the residents are overestimating the facility's impact. 

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Triboro Sports, LLC rested its case at the meeting after calling for additional testimany from traffic engineer Elizabeth Dolan of Dolan and Dean Consulting. Dolan estimated the Triboro facility would attract 20 more cars per hour during peak hours to the nearby Springfield streets.

Attorneys and engineers hired by project opponent Ben Caiola—who was not personally present and whose interest in the project is not clear—testified against the project. Traffic expert Hal Simoff said that similar New Jersey indoor sports facilities often split their fields into quarters, and that up to 160 participants could use the facility at once. Such numbers would be too much for the parking planned for the facility, Simoff said.  

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The meeting was punctuated several times by outbursts from the crowded room of spectators and pointed questions from Springfield residents. 

Mountainside's Zoning Board of Adjustment will take up the matter again on Jan. 13. 


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