If You Think Traffic Is Bad On Nininger Road Now, Just Wait

On Tuesday, March 19th, at 6pm, there will be a meeting for the Town of Monroe Planning Board. The first item on the agenda involves a massive new project on Nininger Road

Today, we’re going to take a look at what Monroe Commons is, who’s behind the project, and what you can do about it.

Like the headline says, if you think getting around on Nininger road is hard now, especially when making the turn onto Dunderberg road, just wait until this thing opens.

I can’t wait to see how the school buses navigate this one.

For Woodbury residents reading this: Even though the project is called Monroe Commons, the project itself is so large that parts of it are technically in Woodbury. You will also be impacted by the traffic created from this new structure.

Who Is Monroe Nininger LLC?

First, the boring stuff.

Monroe Nininger LLC was born on May 30th, 2018. The Department of State ID is #5350210. The address provided to New York State is PO BOX 736, Mahwah, New Jersey, 07430.

That same PO BOX is registered to ALYJ LLC (DOS ID #6556123), which was created in August of 2022. Another company, Liqwoodation Floors LLC (DOS ID #4015050) is also registered to this PO Box. That company was created on November 3rd, 2010.

And yes, that’s the correct spelling of the company name.

In search results for Liqwoodation Floors, the owner is listed as Aron Weiss. Aron Weiss owns the building first registered to Liqwoodation Floors, 168 Clymer St, Brooklyn, NY 1121 in November of 2010.

Finally another company, B & H REALTY, INC (DOS ID#2069924) was formed by Mr. Aron Weiss.

Two addresses were used, 121 31ST STREET, BROOKLYN, NY, UNITED STATES, 11232 and the address for the Principal Executive Officer at 168 CLYMER STREET, BROOKLYN, NY, UNITED STATES, 11211

121 31st Street in Brooklyn was owned by B & H Realty, Inc. but the ownership was later transferred to 121 31ST LLC. The owner of that particular LLC is not clear. 121 31st LLC was formed on November 30th, 2016. The DOS ID# is 5045648. The nature of 121 31st Street and B & H Realty Inc.’s relationship should probably be investigated by the New York City Department of Finance.

As always, this information was gathered using publicly available information, including from the Department of State Division of Corporations. It can’t be said conclusively that Mr. Aron Weiss is the person behind Monroe Nininger LLC, but the data does suggest this is a possibility.

What Does Monroe Commons Want To Build?

On September 19th, 2023, Tim Miller Associates, Inc. completed the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) for Monroe Commons. You can view the document here.

I’m going to quote directly from the DEIS, because the last time a Monroe resident asked Supervisor Tony Cardone about this project, he misled them about the size and deflected by instead throwing The Photo-News under the bus.

(You can watch that happen for yourself at 57:11 in this video. Cardone replies at 1:01:06. He defends the project because of potential revenue for the Town. At 1:04:05 you can see him trash my reporting.)

Cardone’s comments may or may not be the basis for a defamation lawsuit. I haven’t decided. But those comments were absolutely part of an ethics complaint that I filed with the Town.

Either way, you can find my previous reporting at The Photo-News on Monroe Commons here.

So, given Mr. Cardone’s deception on the subject, here’s how the DEIS — prepared by Tim Miller Associates — describes Monroe Commons, straight from the horse’s mouth.

Monroe Nininger LLC wants to build, “a mixed-use commercial development in a single approximately 407,819 square foot (gross area) building with four floors. The proposed uses include a mix of retail, office uses, and a hotel. The development would include a total of 624 surface parking spaces and an area of 29 banked parking spaces has been provided, for a total of 653 spaces provided. The proposed development includes supporting utilities, stormwater management facilities, lighting, and landscaping

The Applicant is proposing a mixed-use commercial development in a single approximately 407,819 square foot (gross area) building with four floors. The proposed uses include a mix of retail, office uses, and a hotel. The development would include a total of 653 surface parking spaces and supporting utilities, stormwater management facilities, lighting, and landscaping. A total of 624 parking spaces will be constructed and an area with an additional 29 banked parking spaces is provided on the plans, for a total of 653 spaces. The banked parking spaces will be constructed if they are found to be necessary.

The Monroe Commons mixed-use commercial building will be approximately 407,819 square feet in size and four (4) stories in height. The square footage, as shown in the Site Plan drawings is the gross floor area and includes common areas and storage. The building will be set back from Nininger Road in the northwest portion of the site. The building is designed to fit the site’s Executive Summary September 19, 2023 Monroe Commons - DEIS 1-5 topography and will have entrances and parking on different levels at the front (south) and rear (north) of the building. The main building entrance area and access to the first floor will have three separate entrances for both retail and office uses. This main entrance will have a bus and taxi drop off area as well as designated handicapped parking areas.

A retail entrance and access to the second floor is provided at the west side of the building. Separate entrances for hotel and office uses and access to the third floor is provided at the north side of the building, as well as associated parking for those uses. There will be two driveway connections to the adjacent residential project known as Veyoel Moshe Gardens (VMG), a multi-family residential development that is currently under construction on the adjoining property to the west. Such a driveway connection would allow residents of VMG to access the Monroe Commons development without driving on Nininger Road, thereby relieving some project generated traffic from local roads and intersections.

Three pedestrian connections are proposed to the neighboring VMG residential development, as shown on the Site Plan drawings (see Site Plan 1 and 2). Sidewalks, six-feet in width will be provided at the lower and upper driveway connections and a third walkway near the northern building entrance. Sidewalks will allow residents of the VMG development to access the site at several points without the need for vehicles. The Monroe Commons development will support a mix of uses in a modern, attractive building. The uses include approximately 168,690 square feet of retail space (gross area), located on the first and second floors. Potential retail tenants include a grocery store and other general retail tenants.

Approximately 39,226 square feet of office space will be provided on the third floor of the building. A portion of the third floor will include a hotel with 39 rooms and lobby and meeting space. The fourth floor of the building will contain approximately 76,462 square feet of office space (gross area). The building will have attractive modern architecture, including a varied outer façade of stone and glass with metal trim. Architectural canopies will be provided at the three building entrances as well as landscaped islands, and a clocktower is proposed at the southeast building corner (see Figures 15-8 through 15-10). Elevations of the four sides of the building are provided as full sized drawings with the Site Plan set, as well as preliminary floor plans for the building interior.

The development will be fully landscaped with street trees and native plantings, as shown in the attached Landscape Plan (see Site Plan drawings). The Landscaping Plan provides street trees along the property frontage on Nininger Road and around the two driveway entrances. Street trees and shrubs will be planted at the perimeter of the development and throughout the two main parking areas. Trees and shrubs are provided around the proposed building, especially at building entrance areas.

What Can You Do About It?

There are a couple of things.

First, you can and should attend the Monroe Town Planning Board meeting on March 19th at 6pm. The Monroe Commons project is first on the agenda. I believe the public comment period is now closed (it originally was supposed to close on December 15th, 2023. You know, right during the holidays when no one was paying attention?)

The problem with planning board meetings in general is the frequent low attendance. So just having a physical presence there does go a long way to remind the politicians who they work for.

(Hint: It’s you.)

Second, you can and should send an email to planningchair@monroeny.org and tcardone@monroeny.org. Make sure to copy mrichardson@monroeny.org on the email.

I URGE you to NEVER send an email to Supervisor Cardone without copying Councilwoman Richardson on it.

Cardone has demonstrated a pattern of not responding to Monroe residents who share their concerns with him by email, as was the case here.

What should you send? Try this:

Subject Line: Say No To Monroe Commons

Body Copy:

Dear Chairwoman Franson and Members of the Monroe Planning Board,

On March 19th, you will hear from representatives of the proposed Monroe Commons project.

This project was previously before the Planning Board on November 21st, 2023. At the time, Mr. Ken Werstead of Creighton Manning told Planning Board Members, “When we started this project we were in the pandemic so we had to source our traffic counts from a number of different locations, some were from the traffic study of VMG, some were from the comprehensive study for the Village of Kiryas Joel, and others were from the design report from the interchange reconstruction project and we supplemented that with some new traffic counts during the pandemic. We then followed DOT's guidance on how to manage that information.”

Given Monroe Common’s proposed location next to the Middle School and High School, I insist that a new traffic study be completed. At the height of the pandemic, traffic congestion across America declined by 73%. It is impossible, and potentially dishonest, to provide accurate traffic data and projections when using data collected, whether in whole or part, during a national emergency.

The Monroe Commons DEIS states, “a total of 624 parking spaces will be constructed and an area with an additional 29 banked parking spaces is provided on the plans, for a total of 653 spaces.”

As Planning Board Member Pat Shea described at the meeting, it took him a long time to get to Larkin Drive going north at around 11am. “It was a complete parking lot at Nininger Road and RT 105 heading to the Village. I can’t imagine a fire truck or ambulance trying to get through that area.”

Both yourself and Mr. Shea asked questions concerning the extension of Nininger Road across Rt 105 and an extension of Larkin Drive. Neither project is even close to getting underway.

Until these road extensions are complete — if they are to be completed at all — any further approval of the Monroe Commons project will create a traffic and safety issue for residents of Woodbury, Palm Tree, and Monroe.

For that reason, I am urging the Planning Board to table the Monroe Commons project, or refrain from issuing any further permits or approvals, until Larkin Drive and Nininger Road’s extensions have been completed.

Thank you.

(Put your name here.)

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