ORANGE : Old Towne Interests at Odds Over Future

Residents of southwest Old Towne presented the City Council this week with two separate visions for the future of their neighborhood.

The recently dubbed Committee of 300, citing the city’s pride in the historic neighborhood, has pressured council members for years to restrict development in the area and to protect its architectural treasures and quality of life.

The group wants the council to change the zoning to allow fewer units on most of the property, where more than two units per lot are now allowed.

Members claim that the way the city handles zoning in the southwest area will indicate its commitment to preserving the rest of Old Towne, the city’s showcase of pre-1940s homes.

A second group, made up largely of older residents and longtime property owners, says this corner of Old Towne was reserved to accommodate varied uses, including apartment buildings, and the zoning should remain as is.

If the city changes zoning there without the permission of all property owners, say members of the Orange Taxpayer’s Assn., it will ignore property rights and destroy real estate investments carefully nurtured for retirement. The group has the support of the East Orange County Assn. of Realtors and former Mayor Don E. Smith, who owns several buildings in the neighborhood.

The council has referred all the residents’ comments to the Planning Department for study, and the matter will be considered by the Planning Commission.

But zoning in Old Towne has long been a sticky issue at City Hall, and the southwest neighborhood could become a political litmus test for council members running for reelection in November, property owners on both sides warn.

The southwest neighborhood, bounded by Chapman Avenue, Glassell Street, La Veta Avenue and Batavia Street, is a patchwork of zoning. Lots designated for single-family homes, duplexes, four-unit apartments, commercial, professional and manufacturing exist side by side.

The taxpayers’ group says the neighborhood is fine this way.

“Our organization is opposed to blanket downzoning,” said T.J. Clark, president of the taxpayers’ group, referring to the effort to permit less development on the lots. “ . . . We are not opposed to property owners downzoning their own property but we do oppose them downzoning their neighbors property.”

If the zoning changes, it will “rob owners of potential income and in many cases of their retirement hopes and dreams,” he said.

But resident Steve Nelson said the current zoning leaves the area open to decline. Since he bought his circa-1889 Gothic Revival-style home in 1974, he has seen five historical homes replaced with 30 apartment units, he said. The result is overcrowding, parking problems, crime and reduced property values for the remaining single-family homes, he contends.