Tuesday night, the project took one small step forward when the Morris Twp. planning board agreed to amend the municipality's master plan to accommodate the increased density. Much of the tract is currently zoned for single-family development, but the monks of St. Mary's want to build hundreds of apartment units, a nursing home and an assisted living facility. The project, which is projected to cost $40 million, is aimed at generating income for the Abbey.
The project has some weighty opponents, most notably the US National Park Service, which maintains and operates the adjacent Morristown National Historical Park, a Revolutionary War site. The next step will come in late May when the planning board's technical coordinating committee will come back to the full board with a master plan re-examination report. That's expected to be followed by another public hearing, after which the matter will go to the five-member township committee for a decision on a zoning change.
Another hurdle for the project to cross is that it still has to obtain approvals to extend sewer hookups to the site from the city of Morristown.
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